Indeed, they aren't usually willing to correct our grammer. Language is just a tool for communication. When mistakes make no interference in understanding, people tend to ignore these slips of the tongue. That's why we should look for language exchange partners and make ourselves specific about the correction of our grammar errors as the purpose of the future communication. And that's also the reason we don't just look around for people on the streets and expect them to do us this unnerving kind of favor. Teachers, beyond quesiton, would help rectify all sorts of problematic sentence patterns we might encounter while learning/ speaking English. But mostly they do this merely in class. I mean, few of us would make serious friends with our English teachers or develop further relationship after school. I believe teachers wouldn't want phone calls at night revolving matters of grammar, either. It would be harder to really chat with them without feeling a bit uneasy. (In fact, when I have coffee with my professor, he never corrects anything coming out from my careless mouth. I do the self-correcting job in general, and since he knows that I do that, he then continues with something else. Probably he knows only too well that students make mistakes and corrects themselves all the time, and that we're just having coffee. He wants that free-from- worry moment for himself too, I suppose. Anyways... it'd be odd if I interrupt, speak up and ask him if I made any mistakes when I asked about his last trip to Ireland... that'll most certainly ruin everything. And he'll probably never have coffee with me ever again... XD.... At that thought, I think I'll just stick to my language exchange partner... :p) Uhh, my point is (sorry :p), language exchange is good. :D Some pen pals are, too. When you both purpose to improve yourselves in speaking/writing, grammar correction is a must. Mutual understanding tops everything. Make that clear, and neither you or your friend would feel being taken advantage of. --

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