No matter how many parenthesis or superfluous punctuation that you add, "Please don't
get 'ability' confused with 'style." is poor writing and grammatically incorrect.

Fine, well, since you wasted your time, I will do you the honour of allowing you to waste mine.

The main reason being that we seem to be discussing 2 sides of the same coin without progressing beyond your opinion as to what constitutes a 'grammatical error'.

The fact remains that you understood my meaning. You understood it so well in fact, that you wrote 2 comments attempting to convince me to see the error of my ways.

If we were teaching second-grade NES university students then I would give much more credence to your argument, but we are not We are teaching ESL students who often care more about conveying their intended meaning when they speak or write.

Now before you jump down my proverbial throat, I am not saying that grammar isn't important, I am saying that OCCASIONALLY it's not AS important when teaching ESL as it is when teaching to NES, and the fact that grammatical 'errors' can sometimes be overlooked as long as the meaning is understood. (and if you try to say I would accept 'I very like' for example, simply because the meaning is clear, then we are not even on the same page)

There's too much narcissism coming from various corners of this discussion forum. it's not a classroom !