Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Sounds of Language - Why English is Difficult to Learn

Remember a couple months ago I wrote about why the English Language is tough to learn? A friend of mine sent me a fun poem that explains EXACTLY why! If you are teaching grades higher than Kindergarten, this poem is great to be posted in the classroom. Enjoy!





The picture is a tad small, so I will type it up here as well. You are more than welcome to copy/paste and print it out if you wish.

We'll begin with BOX; the plural is BOXES,
But the plural of ox is OXEN, not OXES.
One fowl is a GOOSE, and two are called GEESE,
Yet the plural of MOOSE is never called MEESE.

You may find a lone MOUSE or a house full of MICE,
But the plural of HOUSE is HOUSES, not HICE.
The plural of MAN is always MEN,
But the plural of PAN is never PEN.

If I speak of a FOOT and you show me two FEET,
And if I give you a BOOK, would a pair be a BEEK?
If one is a TOOTH and a whole set are TEETH,
Why shouldn't two BOOTHS be called BEETH?

If the singular's THIS and the plural is THESE,
Should the plural of KISS be ever called KEESE?

We speak of a BROTHER and also of BRETHREN,
But though we say MOTHER, we never say METHREN.
Then the masculine pronouns are HE, HIS, and HIM,
But imagine the feminine...SHE, SHIS, and SHIM!

1 comment:

  1. You are so right. I always think of "polish" as in "polish your shoe" and "Polish" as in "he is from Poland so is he polish"...

    ReplyDelete

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