Fun with Spelling and Grammar (was: Ultimate Guide)

[lorien_eve <natmichaels@hotmail.com>]

In *most* cases, I can tell if a person is a native speaker or not. 
Not with his or her first post, but over time, reading several of 
the posts. Often they make the same grammar or spelling mistakes. 
I'm a member in a LOTR group that has members from all over the 
world. Most are very good at typing in English and are very 
understandable, even if their grammar or spelling isn't perfect.

Lorien_Eve


--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, m.bockermann at t... wrote
> 
> Is it possible that some of the spelling and grammatical sins are 
due to the poster being a non-native speaker (or writer, to be more 
exact)? I noticed that there are people from all over the world here 
and when English is your second language, the correct application of 
their/there or its/it's or such might can be really hard. 
> 
> Or can you native speakers tell another native speaker with 
language problems from a non-native speaker? I'm not being sarcastic 
here, I'm really curious. Can you native speakers tell wether a 
poster is native or not? I'm not being sarcastic here, I'm really 
curious. I'm not a native speaker myself, so I wonder if you can 
spot us from a mile away or only notice it by accident.
> 
> I *was* able to spell my native language (German) for almost 20 
years. Really. Truely. And then... what happened? They went ahead 
and *changed* the rules!!! Now I am unhappily living ever after in 
total Babylonian confusion. *Knowing* the rules is not enough to 
break 20 years of habit, training and indoctrination it really 
*******s when your pupils know their spelling better than you do.  )-
:
> 
> Greetings,
> Ethanol