I live overseas and so I have the opportunity to teach a lot of people English as a second teaching job. There are a lot of "weird" things in English that are just hard to teach. Spelling is one of the biggest annoyances for my students. Pronunciation can also be confusing.
Then there's the British problem (who often act like they're making perfect sense!).
The plural of “goose” is “geese” but the plural of “moose” is still “moose”. Just why?!
I make an effort to be a wordsmith of English, but there are an astonishing amount of exceptions to rules of spelling in English.
Conjugation, e.g.:
"He owns" - there an 's' even though it's singular.
"They own" - no 's' even though it's plural.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Xp9hvTvPk
"He owns" - there an 's' even though it's singular.
"They own" - no 's' even though it's plural.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Xp9hvTvPk
English has far too many exceptions, to almost every rule, there is an exception.
It makes learning english without memorization on specific words impossible
It makes learning english without memorization on specific words impossible
@MrPushwood said in #2:
> Then there's the British problem (who often act like they're making perfect sense!).
We Lead the way with our homographs. :).
> Then there's the British problem (who often act like they're making perfect sense!).
We Lead the way with our homographs. :).
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@Waiting4BirnamWood said in #8:
> Sometimes the absence of the comma. I am German and the comma plays an important role in the German language. When I read longer sentences in English, I sometimes miss a comma for structure. But other than that, I really like the English language.
I did not know that about German. I like my commas, semicolons and colons in English, like adding spices to a recipe. However I have to be careful I follow punctuation rules. I think I need to review semicolon rules again.
> Sometimes the absence of the comma. I am German and the comma plays an important role in the German language. When I read longer sentences in English, I sometimes miss a comma for structure. But other than that, I really like the English language.
I did not know that about German. I like my commas, semicolons and colons in English, like adding spices to a recipe. However I have to be careful I follow punctuation rules. I think I need to review semicolon rules again.
Nothing really annoys me about the English language because it's all obvious to me. But then I am English and grew up in England as a native English speaker so I didn't even realise about all those weird anomalies until my overseas friends pointed them out to me!
But for those who might be confused, here is a short YouTube video about how to pronounce the letters "OUGH" in nine different ways! Because even I have to admit that that is just ridiculous! Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu5RBmBEFs
But for those who might be confused, here is a short YouTube video about how to pronounce the letters "OUGH" in nine different ways! Because even I have to admit that that is just ridiculous! Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu5RBmBEFs
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