Edgar,

I've also noticed that some students are more able to use their 
native-speaker intuitions better than others. But the ones who can't 
still produce a lot of complex English.

You're also right that people's grammaticality judgments often do not 
jibe with their actual production. I used to collect examples of 
"resumptive pronoun" sentences in English, along the lines of "I can't 
find that long list of people who you insisted that I invite _them_ to 
the wedding."  I would make a note when I heard one. If I asked the 
person later whether they would find the sentence acceptable, they 
didn't; they would often say "I'd never say that!"

My students also don't like sentences like "The train must have been 
being repaired", but I'm willing to bet they produce them and 
understand them in ordinary speech. Conscious focus on examples often 
scrambles the "processor".

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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