Grammar Problem

Apparently, that's what the OP said, according to fresco who seems to have allayed his ignorance and the offhanded assumption that he made in regard to the OP's reason for asking his question.

I'm surprised at the discussion this simple statement has developed into.
"The cake has arrived"
There's a noun and a verb. It's a complete sentence with one meaning.
"cake" is the subject, and "arrived" is the verb.
What other meaning can there be?
No grammar problem; just the people's interpretation of it.

You're right. It isn't a question of grammar, it's a question of semantics in which, it seems, the OP read the sentence to mean that the cake arrived of its own volition, which lead him to believe that there was an error in grammar, as fresco pointed out after he did his homework.

+ + + ....= !

In the spirit of the mission statement of A2K regarding 'expertise', I am moved to point out that the concept of 'grammar' has moved on somewhat from lay ideas learnt at school. It now includes 'semantics', and that is why a first year linguistics textbook was suggested above (apparently to no avail).
You are of course correct in criticizing any speculation regarding the 'causes' of the OP, especially when they may be of little value to the questioner him/her self.

Is there a forum here for those whose first language is English? Or do all Americans foolishly assume that what they hear from the morons in the media is educated English? In fact, I had a website called "Yuppy Grammar," pointing out the ignorance and fraud of those we are supposed to look up to.

"Literally" shouldn't be used like that. It makes "literally" sound picky, absurd, and unrealistic. "Too strictly" is more appropriate. But you understood exactly why the OP thought "arrive" might be wrong, as in, "The door closed, telling me goodbye."

<b>Guillotine-Fodder</b>

Egorger vos fils: Preppies have no right to exist.

The newest grammatical monstrosity of the Diploma Dumbos in the media is to use "is chosen" for "has chosen," based on the fact that "He's chosen" has both meanings.

"..you understood why..."
Rubbish !
How do you know what a non-native speaker thought ? All you are doing is extrapolating from your native speaker knowledge/imagination...and any way, so what even if you are correct ? I doubt whether you want to discuss the strong form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in relation to learning foreign languages.
Note that the questioner has quite understandably fled the scene, as is often the case when ESL threads develop into bar room waffle.