People can claim whatever ownership they like. The power comes with the numbers. Which is why in a hundred years, the U.S. will be a Spanish language country. (That’s assuming we’re not all speaking Chinese.)

I’m Swedish, but I write in English. Sometimes this is pointed out to me (”Your prose shows you’re not American/English”).

And I have this creeping suspicion that no matter how long and hard I work at improving my English… no matter how formally correct my grammar is… someone will always tell me “I can see on how you write that you’re not born an English speaker.” I admit it makes me a bit edgy.

So I ask you: Does English “belong” to the English? Can they wear it like a necktie, or rather like a club tie, and say “Only we speak the true diction”?

I’m not referring to grammar or spelling, but the finer details: whether to use the passive or active tense, precise use of perfect tense such as “has been”/”was”/”used to be”, etc.

You forgot about how it’s important because we need to keep the poor copyeditors in work, though!