I think that an Academy for English wouldn't affect Britain's grammar, punctuation or spelling in any way. There will still be people out there who still use "txt spk" and poor grammar, regardless of having an Academy or not.
In my opinion it all depends on the situation of the person, whether they have had a good education or not, where the come from etc, when you regard the way that they use language.
To sum things up, I dont think it's right or even possible to monitor the way that English speakers use language, as it is forever changing and developing. An Academy simply couldnt keep up.
You've hit on a very important point here - the gap between what is 'official' and what is actually used is a fascinating study when we look at English over time. I suggest you look back at the early 'Grammarians' who fixed English grammar rules according to what they knew about Latin. On the other hand, spelling has been much more subject to standardisation, though newly threatened in C21st by brand names, American software and 'txt spk'. Your link to education is important - with language changing, and attitudes to non-standard language softening, should grammar rules of Standard English still be the basic yardstick by which we measure a person's education? Would it matter if you were allowed to do school work in whatever slang or patois you used with your peergroup? This is a real question is some parts of the English-speaking world (eg Singapore) and could possibly happen here one day as well. Would an Academy be a help or a hindrance in keeing English and important global language?
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