3 ms·
It is not so much about English and Americans, but about learning a first language as a child versus learning a second language later in life. Learning a second
by FabHK 5y ago
It is not so much about English and Americans, but about learning a first language as a child versus learning a second language later in life. Learning a second language usually involves learning the grammar, and explicitly learning the rules that native speakers "just know".
I think it is quite plausible that, for any language, speakers that learned it as a second language will know the grammar and grammatical terms better than most native speakers (particularly monoglot ones).
Since you provided many examples, I will also give a few:
An astounding number of people overcorrect to "It was a present for my wife and I" or so, having trouble with the few remnants of cases (nominative, accusative, genitive) English still has. Similarly, many native speaker seem incapable to identify the much maligned "passive voice". Or, ask a native speaker under what circumstances you'd use the past perfect continuous.
- NoSorryCannot 5y agoWhy do you think being able to classify the parts of speech would make someone more authoritative on correct usage than native speakers? Imagine documenting a language you don't know, identifying the tenses and the verb order, and finding something surprising so you decide it's the speakers who are wrong and not your model!
- FabHK 5y agoHere the quote from the article that GP was objecting to: > nonnative English speakers who learned the language in a classroom are often more educated on grammar rules and complex technical terms than American native speakers. That is the proposition I wanted to support: more explicit knowledge about the language. Who is "correct" is a whole other ballpark.