Re: Tricky English Language
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot
This is just a poem I stumbled across about English. I hope that all learners of English (and the natives) get a little kick out of this.
I believe Dr. Suess wrote it...not sure though.
==============================================
We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes.
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese.
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
When couldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.
And I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
But I give a boot - would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and plural is these,
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be nicknamed kese?
Then one may be that, and three may be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim!
So our English, I think you will all agree,
Is the trickiest language you ever did see.
Cute saibot :D
I never heard of the word "kine". I did a google image search and I didn't see any cows. Apparently it is a female name since I see several pictures of women.
Re: Tricky English Language
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot
This is just a poem I stumbled across about English. I hope that all learners of English (and the natives) get a little kick out of this.
I believe Dr. Suess wrote it...not sure though.
==============================================
We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes.
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese.
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
When couldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.
And I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
But I give a boot - would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and plural is these,
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be nicknamed kese?
Then one may be that, and three may be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim!
So our English, I think you will all agree,
Is the trickiest language you ever did see.
Nice poem, saibot!!! Where did you stumble up on this poem? On the web? I'm asking because there may be more such poems in that place :wink:
Honestly, I think there are far more exceptions in Russian than in English.
Quote:
Meh, it's short for Mathematics, so the short form is Maths.
If you look at other words that are plural but shortened, the S remains.
If you were from the US you'd say that Math is the correct way of contracting the word 'Mathematics'. As far as I know: Math - AmE, Maths - BrE. There should also be significant difference in the pronunciation.
Re: Tricky English Language
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReDSanchous
Quote:
Originally Posted by saibot
This is just a poem I stumbled across about English. I hope that all learners of English (and the natives) get a little kick out of this.
I believe Dr. Suess wrote it...not sure though.
==============================================
We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes.
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese.
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
When couldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.
And I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
But I give a boot - would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and plural is these,
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be nicknamed kese?
Then one may be that, and three may be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim!
So our English, I think you will all agree,
Is the trickiest language you ever did see.
Nice poem, saibot!!! Where did you stumble up on this poem? On the web? I'm asking because there may be more such poems in that place :wink:
Honestly, I think there are far more exceptions in Russian than in English.
Quote:
Meh, it's short for Mathematics, so the short form is Maths.
If you look at other words that are plural but shortened, the S remains.
If you were from the US you'd say that Math is the correct way of contracting the word 'Mathematics'. As far as I know: Math - AmE, Maths - BrE. There should also be significant difference in the pronunciation.
Honestly, I don't remember where I got it. I remember I saved it to my computer a while ago, with the intent of posting it here, but I never got around to it.
