Reply #15: native speakers are always worse [View All]

native speakers learn both proper language as well as slang and colloquialisms, and often have difficulty knowing the difference between what's proper and what's a fairly common (possibly regional) mistake.

try explaining to a native english speaker these ones:

-champing at the bit (not chomping)
-to all intents and purposes (not for all intensive purposes)
-tenterhooks (not tenderhooks)



plus, i learned long ago that speaking overly correctly actually distracts from effective communication. you get people thinking about grammar and english rather than the actual point you were trying to make. if i knew exactly which grammatical mistakes to make, i'd be a politician....