>>>It was only recently that I became aware of a related issue. My English has improved a lot in time. First, I had to read many American books during my study. Those books, I have to say, are not written with the international students in mind. They are written for the U.S. students. The professors in countries like mine decide that their students have to improve their English in order to better prepare them for involvement in international projects. After that, my writing improved, also because of being involved here. There came a moment that I had a rather high opinion about my understanding of English. And it probably is justified, when comparing it to most people in my surroundings. But recently I became aware that I will never become profound enough to fully understand or write English. And I'll make errors more often than I know of or will be told, simply because native speakers will not always notice that I meant something else than they think I mean. And
>>this
>>
>>FY enlightenment:
>>
>>" ... I meant something other than what they thought I meant."
>>
>>Not being pedantic or critical. I know you want to improve your English. Despite your protestation to the contrary that whole paragraph was practically flawless till the second-to-last (penultimate) sentence. :-)
>
>Wow, thanks! However, I dare to protest about 'thought' versus ' think'. I wrote:
>
>speakers will not ... notice ... I meant something else than they think ...
>
>The notion is that, in this case, if 'notice' is present tense. then also 'think' must be present tense.
>
>That's the rule in Dutch. Is it different in English?

Ah but you're referring to something that you meant (so they thought).

OK would have been:

"... native speakers will not always notice that I mean something other than they think I mean."

They either think you mean what you mean, or they thought you meant what you meant.

You can't meant what you meant, cos they happened at different times.