Commentary Bill Bryson, in his iconic travelogue about the United Kingdom, Notes from a Small Island, observes that nearly all tourist leaflets are “depressingly illiterate, particularly with regard to punctuation.” He sarcastically promises that “if I see one more tourist leaflet that says ‘Englands Best’ or ‘Britains Largest’ I will go and torch the place.” Bryson’s book was published in 1995. Since then, anecdotal evidence as well as statistical surveys reveal that literacy problems have persisted, not just in the United Kingdom but also in Australia. The existence of these problems may even be gleaned from the email culture that has developed since Bryson wrote his book. Indeed, when reviewing email messages sent by students to their classmates and to their teachers, the extent of the problem would easily be exposed. Many email messages do not start with a proper salutation anymore—as if this courtesy is a discarded 19th century …