Nine Reasons Why English Is So Hard to Learn

Image by annemcdon from Pixabay

English is a quirky little language, even for those whose native language is English. Why?

1. Homographs

Words that are spelled the same, often pronounced the same, but with entirely different meanings.

Lead in your pencil and lead the parade.Bow on the gift and bow after the performance.Close the door and close not far.Tears you cry and tears in the paper.2. Homophones

Words that sound the same, but are spelled differently with different meanings.

Worn and WarnTo, Two, TooBear and BareHere and HearLed and LeadSee and SeaAnd a bunch more.3. Contronyms

Words that have two contradictory meanings.

Finished as completed; Finished as done for.Bolt as in securing something; Bolt as fleeing.Give out as in providing for; Give out as to run out.Oversight as in looking after; Oversight as failing to notice.Sanction as in approving; Sanction as in boycotting.4. Idioms

How can one figure out idioms since they cannot be taken literally?

Pulling one’s legIt’s a piece of cake.To kill two birds with one stone.To bite the bullet.To wrap one’s head around something.HUH?5. Rules with Mostly Exceptions

Like “I before E except  after C or when sounds like A as in neighbor and weigh” — except for weird, protein, caffeine, codeine, seize, height, seismic. And on the other side, ancient, society, hacienda.

6. Silent LettersWhy doesn’t pterodactyl start with T?Why doesn’t knife start with N?What is the T doing in listen?Why doesn’t autumn end with an M?7. Irregular Words

We have nouns that are plural, but are not pluralized by adding an S after the last letter: children, women, men, candies, cacti, alumnae.

And irregular verbs are misused all the time – those whose past tense doesn’t simply add –ed:

run, ran, have runset, set, and setthink, thought, have thoughtdrink, drank, have drunk8. “Chameleon” Words

Some words change meaning depending on which syllable you stress:

Content as in happy; Content as in what something containsProject as in something to do; Project as to throw.Object as in thing; Object as in to oppose.9. Pronunciation Chaos

Through, thought, ouch, enough, trough, thorough — they all have ou. All pronounced differently.

Though, enough, height — all have gh. All pronounced differently.