Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn.

qatexpat
By qatexpat

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn.

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he could get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the presents.
A base was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
To help with the planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
After a number of injections, my jaw got number.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let's face it, English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore it's paradoxes, we find that Quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham. If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? one goose, two geese. So one moose, two meese? one index, two indices?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "Quick"?

By ESL Teacher• 29 Nov 2006 07:01
ESL Teacher

Ha, this was fun to read...I am contemplating showing this to my students...or maybe that will be just plain mean.

By anonymous• 29 Nov 2006 04:14
anonymous

na

By anonymous• 29 Nov 2006 04:11
anonymous

The English language, especially the North American English is compose of thousand of words and phrases of Latin, French and Spanish too make it worse.

That is why is considered hard to learn, especially when you are using Basic English grammar, composition and punctuation.

I'm still holding to my old college grammar, composition and punctuation books from my days in college. Let’s not forget the famous Webster regular dictionary and Thesaurus collection.

By SNNSX• 29 Nov 2006 03:02
SNNSX

by Melvyn (Lord) Bragg explains all this, and much more besides...

I think you can get it in Jarir Bookstore.

Once you have read it, you will realise just how special English really is, and why.

By butterfly• 28 Nov 2006 22:39
butterfly

Funny, I always thought English was a simple, easy and basic language that anyone can speak!

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