No Hablo Inglés

Some say English is one of the hardest languages to learn for non-English speaking people. But why should it be?

Each letter in the alphabet has one distinct sound and use.

OK, never mind that, but there is only one letter or combination of letters for each distinct sound.

Ummm, well, there aren't words that sound the same but are spelled differently.

How about each word only has one meaning?

It seems that every rule has an exception. No wonder it takes twelve years of school to get it right.

Right now in school, Jack is learning about verbs, nouns, plurals and possessives. If you were a teacher, how would you explain plurals?

To make a word plural, you always add an "s", like one snake, two snakes.

Unless the word ends in an "s" already, then you add an "es", like one bus, two buses.

Unless the word wants to be Greek or Latin, then you remove the ending sound and add an "i", like one cactus, two cacti.

Unless the word ends in a "y", then you take away the "y" and add an "ies", like one baby, two babies.

Unless there is a vowel before the letter "y", then you just add an "s", like one toy, two toys.

Unless the word is "deer", then the plural is "deer".

Unless the word is one of those words that follows no rule at all, like mouse/mice, child/children, or man/men.

Jack is doing pretty well with learning his plurals, but tends to follow the basic rules for those irregular words he hasn't memorized yet.

He brought home a worksheet the other day in which he lost a point for not correctly providing the plural form of "woman." His answer? "Ladies." I think he should have got bonus points for that answer.