You mentioned teaching Czech. I don`t know if you have a language authority like Duden in Czech, but if you do I`m sure it helps. I haven`t looked at any of the English grammar books or dictionaries so I don`t know what`s out there.
Yes, we do have exactly one authority that is in charge of all this:
It's very helpful because in Czech, so much can go wrong (not saying Czech is harder than other languages, it's just... I'd say peculiar), few people know how to use it correctly and the majority of people know where to find the answer if they care enough to do so. This is obviously a lot easier in a country of 10 million than it would be for all the countries scattered around the world that speak English and use it their way.
Here's one of many lists of English grammar resources if you feel like looking into it:
English is already the most common second language (by number of speakers) in the world, and more people begin studying it every day. Fortunately, the…
There are both British and American resources there. I tend to use the Cambridge Dictionary a lot
Cambridge Dictionary - English dictionary, English-Spanish translation and British & American English audio pronunciation from Cambridge University Press
It's not just British English. You can try typing in any "American" expression and it will probably know it and tell you whether it's formal, informal, offensive etc.
Yes, Nikola, good students of a language look to all resources to see what other opinions are, seek advice from native speakers, are open to criticism or correction and don`t take it personally, and just keep going. If they are seeking to improve, they will improve. I am always willing to change my mind if pursuaded I`m wrong. Sometimes it takes a little digging to be sure I`m wrong, but if wrong, I`ll learn from it and move on.
I`ve found at least with German, you are pretty safe if you use words that are not tagged (meaning they are standard) by Duden, but that you can be reasonably safe in using either standard language or going down a bit to colloquiums or even causal (some call sloppy) speech. It´s dangerous to try to go up, so I personally avoid words marked „geh“ for gehoben, elevated speech, or „Amtsspr“ for official language without first checking with a native speaker. It´s risky to to that. You can`t get into trouble going a bit colloquial, since I`ve noticed the frequency of word use is high in these categories. But with elevated speech you need to be doubly sure it´s a word people will use. Also anything marked „veraltend“, dated, you can pretty much forget about. The words or verbs aren`t used or not known by many (except older generations). And veraltet is just dead altogether. It’s worse than veraltend. So yes, I think shooting for the middle range speech is safest and knowing the difference is very helpful. And even Duden is not always spot on. I`ve found words Duden has pegged as „geh“ and asked native speakers about it and they´ve said they never even heard the word before. Same for words labeled „veraltend“. Or people might say they´ve heard it only rarely but no one uses it.
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