The English language is a mystery to all of us, whether you’ve been speaking it since day one, or you’ve just started to learn it. From its bizarre spelling rules to its free-for-all grammar, it’s a daily struggle just trying to form sentences that make sense. No wonder people are turning to emoji to express their thoughts, rather than coping with some weird English words.
Unless you live in the Tibetan mountains or belong to an Amazonian tribe, you’ve definitely come across English grammar in use. It’s the most widely-studied language in the world, making it a connecting word between countries, and even continents. Thanks to the rise of American power and influence, English has spread like wildfire across the globe through movies, music, and literature. That doesn’t mean it’s any walk in the park.
Have a look at some of the most frustrating moments English grammar has brought us below; you don’t have to search a long way for funny jokes, as they’re all there, in the common usage of English.
There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins were not 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 its 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, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? 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? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
Based on the above words and sentences, as a child we all have found the language to be quite annoying but as the time passed by we have accepted it and learned to ignore these inconsistencies. Let’s face it, English is a fun language.
