Teach English in Changqing Zhen - Nantong Shi

It could be argued that there are, in fact, no peculiarities in the English language but what are seen, by some to be at odds, are in fact quite the norm as every time one points out a rule in the language it can immediately be countermanded. Consider the examples below which question the statement that “adjectives always precede, not follow, the noun.” ‘I painted the black board.’ ‘I painted the board black.’ Transposing the adjective/word ‘black’ has broken the rule but is still grammatically correct, although creating a totally different meaning. Consider too; “All inanimate objects in the English language are neutral in gender.” Really? Ships and cars are mostly referred to as females, but they are, in fact, neuter. However, regardless of the gender of any noun, common or proper, it is gratifying to the student that the adjective chosen to describe the noun never alters in format such as in “the heavy lady (feminine), the heavy man (masculine), the heavy carpet (neuter).” This is perhaps a peculiarity, in contrast to other languages, but it certainly makes life easier. Arguably the ease of choosing the adjectival form gives the student more time to concentrate their brainpower to the mind-baffling ways in which similarly spelt words are often articulated with totally different sounds. “I heard him cough (‘off’ sound) as the sun shone through (‘oo’ sound) the bough (’ow’ sound) of the tree.” Similarly the pronunciation of ‘bow’ (to incline one’s head or trunk in greeting or the front end of a boat) and ‘bow’ (the slip knot in a ribbon or shoe lace), as well as the small words “two, to and too.” Then of course there are the “silent” letters in words or indeed the non-existent ones that appear in the pronunciation (as in cough above). For example the “w” is not sounded in the word “write” nor the “p” in the word “psalm”, the “g” is not sounded in “right”; how does “ph” become an “f” sound in “physiology”? To add to the students’ problem is the same word and spelling being used but pronounced in a different way as in: ”She read the first book and took the other one home to read.” The examples are numerous and have generally to be learned as there are no hard and fast rules – all of which would be immediately proved wrong if there were any. Then of course there is the apparent nonsense of how the plural of words is formed. There appears to be no rhyme nor reason to the following: “One foot: two feet” but “one boot and two boots.” “One mouse: two mice” but “one house and two houses.” Turning to verbs. These can cause great problems, especially the irregular ones which can behave in a most baffling manner. Gradually the student will learn that the verb “To be” changes with every person in the singular “I am, you are, he/she/it is” yet in the plural it remains constant as “are” for all the pronouns. This also applies in the past tense and many other irregular verbs. The regular verbs do not cause quite so much of an issue as the format usually follows a set pattern of adding, in the present, an “s” for the third person singular – “I cook” but “he cooks” but not the plural it remains as “they cook”. The predominant “rule” for the past tense is to add “ed” to the stem – “I cook, I cooked.” But woe betide any student who thinks they can fully relax with these regular verbs as there are pitfalls. The past participle of the verb “keep” is “kept” and “spell” is ”spelt”, although the American version of “spelled” is accepted. Add into this “porridge” phrasal verbs – “to put up with” meaning to tolerate; idiomatic phrasal verbs “can you put him up?” asking if accommodation can be facilitated. Regional accents and regional use of words – in South Devon a potato may be referred to as “a teddie” while most people would regard this as a toy bear, while in other areas,“potato” may be a reference to a hole in a sock. The introduction – or adoption – of American spellings/vocabulary adds to the students’ confusion. A trunk in “English” it is “a large container to keep things in”, while in “American” it is the “boot of a car”. Not only is the vocabulary changing but also the spelling. “Neighbour” versus “Neighbor”; “Anaemia” or “Anemia”. Both spellings are accepted. English is a living language, having evolved taking words from many other languages including Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, French, German and been altered over the years. It is not “regulated”, as in some countries, and is still evolving with new words developing (neologisms ) often by nouns being altered to verbs and verbs to nouns and now includes many jargon phrases brought about by cultural and technical developments. Although the reasons are hidden in the mists of times, the perceived “peculiarities” of the English language are not peculiar – but just normal. There is one positive note on which to conclude. This being that the student will appreciate the ease of counting as this is straightforward and simple, because the sequence remains consistent throughout, only changing when another ten is reached. Maybe this is the only “peculiarity” in the English language. Word count: 891