I don't know about your country, but the declining standard of English in Australia can squarely be blamed upon our educators, so-called. The teaching of grammar is almost non-existent, the leftish trendies in our education departments expecting that the students will "pick it up" as they go along. Similarly, there was a strong move a few years ago to downplay the importance of spelling, the theory being that, if the students were permitted to write phonetically, they could concentrate all the better on their written creativity. Again, they would "pick up" correct spelling in time. Yeah, right!
My daughter received only the most rudimentary instruction in English grammar, reflecting the sad fact that the vast majority of Australian teachers have only a passing acquaintance with it. Indeed, it wasn't until she began French (in late primary school) that my daughter became aware of terms like "noun", "verb" and "adjective". (The French teacher wasn't too thrilled, either!)
Inevitably, this is leading us downhill, with grammar-challenged journalists providing a tailwind by quoting grammar-challenged politicians and sportsmen. We could be forgiven for thinking that “positive” and “negative” are the only two adjectives in existence, and that sentences should begin with “Yes, no….”, “Yes, but….” or “Look…”. And, of course, all sentences should be liberally sprinkled with “like”.
Mind you, we have some fine journalists, writers who know the difference between “lay” and “lie”, between “preventive” and “preventative”, between “aluminum” and “aluminium”, between “infer” and “imply” and between “presume” and “assume”. May they, like, prosper!
I have a sneaking suspicion that the downfall of English grammar in formal education has given rise to the plethora of grammar sites on the internet. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but oh! - all that conflicting information! Who (or whom?) to believe?
Which highlights the lack of a definitive standard. Bring back H.W. Fowler, I say!