Which lines in the passage explain why english scholars felt a dire need to set standards for the english language?
one might think that proud english writers would welcome a broader readership. however, quite the opposite happened. though scholars agreed that english was a great language, many felt that it was in danger. according to some scholars, when poorly educated people read, wrote, and spoke, they corrupted the english language.
today, if you do not know how to spell a word, you look it up in the dictionary. during the early eighteenth century, there were few dictionaries. those that did exist were mainly collections of difficult words or translation dictionaries (latin to english, for example). there was no authority on the"correct" way to use or spell words.