Grammar-check

When you think about it, it's really pretty funny when students ask me to give their paper "just a grammar-check". What do they think they're asking for?

Because - dear student - when I find a sentence like "Those arguments create the misbelieves over the networks of neighbors and even lovers," how do I even begin to tell you what is wrong with your "grammar" in a way that won't make both of us cringe? How can I tell you that, yes, I can read this and know that you probably mean "Such arguments caused mistrust among social networks and even lovers," but your professor will callously mark it "unclear," because he's not trying as hard as I am to hear the voice behind your words.
I do my best, when I read your paper, to understand how and why you have misused a word, whether you know its meaning or have ascribed another to it. I know that you say "betwixt" in part because you were bewitched by the word's spunk, and how much more fun it is than "between," even though you really meant the latter. I understand that you don't know, yet, that although betwixt sounds spunky, and although between runs around town without her, she is actually a shy old word, and won't be seen without her escorts, "and" and "between". I get that you can never tell where those pesky articles go, and I'll forgive you for it and move on. I know that prepositions are impossible- "against" must always follow "discriminate," and "endows" is always accompanied by "with," but your immediate guesses are "in," "to," "of," and "for" - if you realize that a preposition belongs there at all.
I understand all of these things and a myriad more. Intricacies and nuances of expression you'd never even considered pour into my mind as I read your paper. I look through your words as a person looking through coarse, wave-filled glass, trying to guess which bits on the other side are trees, which bits other houses or mailboxes or clouds or people. Is this what you want when you ask me for a "grammar-check"? Or do you just want me to put your commas in place and tell you when you've mixed up your prepositions?
I don't know, but really, it's never as simple as checking your grammar. There are also the words you choose - verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs - what they mean, and the order you put them in, and whether you've even thought about a sentence or just put it there in a hurry (among other things). I do my best to clarify it all for you, and I'm sorry for the blank face that I give you when you ask me if the paper is good and the ideas clear. I'm generally so busy trying to see through your sentences that I miss the bigger picture. After all, you just wanted a grammar-check, right?
with love,
an ESL tutor

p.s.: I really do love this job.