Lesson 12 - Why English is so Hard…
Things to do
1. Answer the following questions:
(a) What makes English the trickiest language?
Ans: English is tricky because it has different rules for making words plural, words that sound the same but mean different things, words that sound different than how they look, and letters that don’t make sounds in some words.
(b) Write the singular of the following:
oxen
Ans: ox
mice
Ans: mouse
men
Ans: man
feet
Ans: foot
(c) Write the plurals of:
boot
Ans: boots
house
Ans: houses
that
Ans: those
pan
Ans: pans
2. Make a list of other tricky examples you know. Keep adding to your list.
Ans:
(i) Hour is pronounced like “our”.
(ii) Knife is spelled with a “k” but we don’t say it.
(iii) Island has an “s” but we don’t hear it.
(iv) Knee starts with a “k” but we don’t say it.
(v) Wrist is spelled with a “w” but we don’t hear it.
3. List the funny words you find in this poem.
Example: hice.
Ans: shis, shim
4. A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a ‘naming’ word.
For example, we use “he’, ‘his’, ‘him’ in place of “John”. “John’s” and ‘to John’ respectively. Write what you will use for “Mary”. “Mary’s”, and “to Mary’ in the following sentences:
Mary is my friend.
Ans: She is my friend.
This is Mary’s notebook.
Ans: This is her notebook.
I want to return it to Mary.
Ans: I want to return it to her.