With all due respect to your GE, I would hesitate to take the opinion of any native English speaker at face value when it conflicts with what you've been taught by your English intstructors. Just because we speak the language does not mean we necessarily understand the minutiae of the rules of grammar.
How true is that, for me at least. All of my french instructors over the years have known at least 12 times the grammar rules that I knew.
Jen
