Last night's 3rd grade homework featured a grammar worksheet. The task: convert words from the singular to the plural. But not just any words. Instead he was working with the likes of leaf (leaves), volcano (volcanoes), and that classic Dan Quayle conundrum: potato (potatoes).
The discovery that there was no hard and fast rule for this practice just set the boy off. How is it that chef converts to chefs but calf becomes calves?
The mind boggles and if one is eight years old, the mind eventually concludes that the grammar homework can kiss one's bootie.
I totally agree! I taught English as a Second Language classes and only then began to truly appreciate the complexity of the English language. Seriously, where did we go wrong? We expect foreigners to learn English, but we can barely learn it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Some of my favorites are: foot (feet), deer (deer), dwarf (dwarfs... or is it dwarves?, and die (dice).
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