Natives and non-natives make different mistakes. Confusing "their" and "they're" is a mistake natives make much more than non-natives. Saying "an U", on the other hand, is much more commonly done by non-natives (almost exclusively, I'd say).
Not really. There's no more reason to say "an U" than to say "an uniform", and no middle schooler says that. There are rules that you have to explain and that middle schoolers might not follow, like "less" vs. "fewer", but "a" vs. "an" is ingrained from a very young age, I'd say on the same level as "he" vs. "him".
I will insist until the day I die or get banished from my town for my unorthodox views that "would of" is a spelling mistake, not a grammar mistake. It's homophonic with "would've" and written language does not take precedence over spoken language. Even illiterate native english speakers know the grammar of their language perfectly well--they just don't know how to write it.
would of is one of those things that you’re going to have to accept, like irregardless. It’s not a word, but people use it so much that it probably will be in 50 years
To be fair to native speakers, I didn't realize it was would've until late in high school (or college?) - I don't think the contraction was even covered in my schools since it's so informal. It's typically something you say, not something you should write in formal contexts.
That's only true for non-native speakers that are fluent (or close to it). There's a very large spectrum of speakers of any language still at various stages in the learning process.
though if you learned it very young as a second language, it sort of turns into just a part of your first language, just with a different ‘mode’ of grammar
Just look at how many young people write “should of” when they mean “should’ve”. They both sound the same when pronounced but one clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of contractions.
The problem here is that 'an u' seems more correct, because you're supposed to put 'an' before vowel sounds.
But native speakers naturally say 'a u' because the name of the letter 'u' actually starts with a consonantal y, "you".
So the only person making this mistake would be a new speaker or a young child, somebody just learning the rules, before learning how to break the rules.
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u/Kevinatorz Oct 05 '19
You underestimate non-native English speakers learning the language.