Lots of food for thought here. I won't do a massive multi-quote but certainly the point about native vs non-native speakers is a good one. I remember being taught some basic rules in French about word order (noun before adjective) though not to the extent of Andrew H.'s list.
The line between grammar and writing style seems to vary though - is it grammatically *wrong* to dangle a participle or is it just poor writing style? Is writing style taught in schools, and should it be? I was certainly never taught what an infinitive or participle was, let alone not to split or dangle one. And I had to ask Google about the gerund.
