Style also had an effect on ne dele

Style also had an effect on ne deletion, with monitored style favouring
the retention of ne, and casual style deleting more. Not much change takes
place from before and after the stay abroad. The native speaker pragmatic
norms in relation to negation are: “when you are being formal in French, you
retain ne, and alternatively in casual speech, you delete.” The non-natives
seem to understand the native speaker rule. There is a slight tendency to
delete more in informal style on the part of the non-natives, but style is not
nearly the constraint on ne deletion that it is for the native speakers. After one
academic year in France, they have not quite learned the native speaker
norms, as they are overgeneralising. It could well be that after a further period
in France, they would eventually nuance their frequency of ne deletion to
approximate more precisely the native speaker norm.