@WW me too. I was wondering whether it might be a good idea to explore the usage of "quasi-determiners" (like 'the bulk of', "a great number of", and so on) and maybe come up with a list which are most commonly used with the plural verb even in US English, unless this is already covered in Hewins or somewhere I have missed. For instance:
"The overwhelming majority of students in my class falls asleep within ten minutes".
"The couple on the backseat was kissing". (see ngram below)
"The pair of doves was cooing." (50/50)
"Four pairs of trousers were found in her shopping bag.".
"The pair was inseperable." (not found on ngrams)
I do realise that one could apply the "notiional" agreement concept here; just looking for a shortlist which almost always use plural verb

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=the+couple+was%3Aeng_us_2012%2Cthe+couple+were%3Aeng_us_2012%2Cthe+couple+was%3Aeng_gb_2012%2Cthe+couple+were%3Aeng_gb_2012&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cthe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cthe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cthe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThe%20couple%20was%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cthe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThe%20couple%20were%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0

In the meantime there seem to be lots more hits on google for phrases like "she texted yesterday" than "she text yesterday"; so at the moment "texted" seems more common.

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/35030/where-did-snuck-come-from

It is indeed true that some verbs have changed from the "ablaut" (vowel-change) sytem to the common "regular" inflection system, and a few have gone the other way. So technically there's no reason why "text" shouldn't one day become the standard past form. Stick around a few decades and we'll see.

Well the Latin plural of innuendo might be innuendis; but really best avoided; hints would be a better word-choice.

"advocating for" as a phrase has upticked dramatically since 1980 in google books, especially in US English. Whether this is use or misuse, or a shift in the language is debatable.

Or alternatively one could join the Quakers who might accommodate your thou-ward leanings

Until at least WWI, thou was widespread across a large expanse of Northern England.
It was still used withing the family in Derbyshire in 1970's. For instance, "astha put 'bike in't ginnel?" I think if you went there today and talked to older people you would find it still alive and well. "Art thou" sounds like "artha".
Check out D H Lawrence:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/abj76/PG/pieces/lawrence/colliers_wife.shtml

@WW "Slough is a rather characterless town"
Surely the train station, the mixed bus/pedestrian high street, the Mars factory, the linked traffic lights, a selection of excellent brothels, and a helpful branch of Samaritans, lend it a certain je ne sais quoi. If you go there, please keep an eye out for my virginity.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_on_traditional_and_simplified_Chinese_characters#Pro-Simplified_characters_2
see the section on literacy rates - basically simplification has not improved literacy.

The real catch with English is we have about 11 basic vowels but only aeiou and y on our keyboard so some agreed sistem would b kneaded if truely hole-sale change was the goal. One needs to address bakwards compatibility and word-reference books and the whole issue of ASCII/UTF-8/sort-sequence if one includes extra chars.

I do agrree that alternative spellings of -ough words are well worth thinking about.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/nov/01/schools.wordsandlanguage

books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%3Aeng_us_2012%2CMy+family+is%3Aeng_gb_2012%2CMy+family+are%3Aeng_gb_2012%2CMy+family+are%3Aeng_us_2012&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy family is%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family is%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family are%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family are%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%3Aeng_us_2012%2CMy+family+is%3Aeng_gb_2012%2CMy+family+are%3Aeng_gb_2012%2CMy+family+are%3Aeng_us_2012&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy family is%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family is%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family are%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy family are%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0