To think it's embarrassing how English has one of the easiest grammar systems, and yet so many people don't know the basic rules...

[Skyeboat]

I'm a linguist, and the languages I studied have very complex grammar rules compared to English. So much so that native speakers have to memorise verb tables, moods, cases etc. at primary school level, and even those who didn't study to a high level know the basic rules.
English is one of the simplest languages, and yet the amount of native English speakers I see making really obvious mistakes is just embarrassing.
Is the problem that we just don't teach grammar and syntax in school?
For example, I saw a FB post today selling "Teddy's" (as opposed to teddies). That's actually the most common mistake I see - people, even businesses, not knowing how to use apostrophes and form plurals. I'd understand if it was a complicated rule that required memorisation with a lot of exceptions, but it's soo basic. It takes about 10 minutes to learn then you're all set.
I went to a pretty average state school, and I remember they did teach us these things, but we weren't rigorously tested on them or required to repeat them regularly. So I do believe the problem is with a lack of focus on basic English from a young age.
Am I being unreasonable or is this really embarrassing that we have such a poor grasp of our own mother tongue?

I'm no expert, but discussion here from Merriam-Webster. Essentially, there are loads of exceptions that pre-date the rule.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/fewer-vs-less

My trilingual kids' who are well onto their respective 4th language, say English is easier. I said in a previous post how I have watched their friends' pick up, and confidently speak English within a couple years of learning.

All I know is that Greek is difficult to learn as a native English speaker.

There is a lot of defence and offence on this thread. I will admit to eye rolling the writing by friends and family back home from time to time. It is the usual errors like 'loosing weight' and 'your amazing' etc.

I do wonder why they can't see for themselves that "their lovely' and 'I would of not paid' is incorrect and easily rectified by spending a couple of hours reviewing some of the rules surrounding English grammar.

But that's an American dictionary and they have lots of different 'rules'

The disinterested/uninterested distinction has a similar history. The "not interested/uninterested" meaning of disinterested is older than the "impartial" meaning of the word going back as far as 1600 or so. It shifted sometime later, and grammarians began to insist on a distinction between the two. The meaning is now shifting back. "Dis" and "un" mean essentially the same thing. It's different meanings of "interest" that keep the distinction alive.

Both examples (less/fewer and disinterested/uninterested) show how an essentially descriptive distinction became prescriptive in the minds of many.

@Saschka I met someone when I was young who as a young (French) man was employed to teach young Russian army officers Russian so they could communicate with their troops. I guess that was before the Revolution. (I’m old myself now)

It's not just an American issue, here's a blog which references the OED.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fewer-vs-less-why-its-trickier-than-you-might-think-david-standen

Yes I've been wondering about that too. There are at least two typos in a book I am reading at the moment.

I'm actually thinking of my German friends who do tend to get it wrong even though their English is in all other respects close to perfect and ridiculously colloquial.

A lot of foreigners do struggle a bit with British people never saying what they mean. at least when they first move here. I actually wonder whether autistic people struggle more here than they would in other countries because we go round the houses to say something. That isn't a question of language but certainly of comprehension. For example "would you mind doing this before lunchtime" when you mean "do it by noon".

Some of the most intelligent people have difficulty with language and communication. Stay in your own land, keep patting yourself on the back for your expertise but maybe stay humble x

Your attempt still wins hands down.

@Bingbangbongbash
Which "later years" do you mean? I teach y7-11, if we leave grammar instruction much later than that, children will fail exams and thereby be at a disadvantage when applying to post-16, HE and when applying for jobs.
Creativity is extremely important, but to be creative and to be accurate are not antithetical. They are complementary.

Panini doesn't even need an "s" let alone an apostrophe. It is a plural word already.
But that's another story!

Yes it's a peculiarity.
Yes all languages have them.
I still think they're hard though.

Panini may be the plural in Italian (for sandwich I believe) but surely it's the singular in English (meaning a particular type of toasted sandwich).

Makes no sense why, if we are using their word, why we can't use the singular. It's not like it doesn't exist. Panino is the singular. Why don't we use that?
Then again we say PIN number when it should just be PIN and that's from our own language!

Because we don't. <shrug> I'm sure there's hundreds of examples of words adopted imperfectly into English.

Out of curiosity, for whom: learners or L1 speakers? And how? Are they hard to spell or hard to pronounce?

I ask because the -ough thing always gets brought up by English speakers as an example of English being difficult. Despite this, I've never heard a learner mention it as a problem, and I don't think that spelling or pronouncing these words is a common issue for L1 speakers, either.

I'm in awe of your chemistry degree and would gladly retrain in a STEM-related field if I could get my head around any of it! It's too bad that society is too busy trying to stuff square pegs into round holes to value individual strengths and choices.

Because the vast majority of people are not familiar with the rules of Italian grammar.

Do you think Italians use English borrowings in full accordance with English grammar?

I was referring to the primary teaching the children’s poet laureate was talking about.

I agree it’s important - but there needs to be a careful balance between teaching the correct was and stifling creativity in those for whom the rules don’t come easy.

It’s precisely on the page that “punctuation performs its grammatical function”.

I don't really care what's 'precisely on the page'. Lynn Truss is not an unimpeachable authority.

Yes is the short answer. I’ve never heard an italian put i, o or e on the end of a word borrowed from English. They just use the word as is.

Happy to have exceptions demonstrated.

Never said she was, simply referring back to a point already made.

I don't speak Italian but it's normal practice in English. What would you use for the plural of volcano, fiasco, pepperoni?