I have seen this many places and it can be found many places on the web, but since I am a foreign language teacher and the students always say, "Why can't everyone just learn English?", I thought it would be a good idea to put this in a place where I can find it.
Why English is Hard to Learn
- We must polish the Polish furniture.
- He could lead if he would get the lead out.
- The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
- Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
- A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
- When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
- I did not object to the object.
- The bandage was wound around the wound.
- The farm was used to produce produce.
- The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
- The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
- There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
- They were too close to the door to close it.
- The buck does funny things when the does are present.
- A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
- To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
- The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
- After a number of injections my jaw got number.
- Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
- I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
- How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Great list! I am a former FL teacher (12 years in the HS classroom), and I enjoy your blog. I now work in technology. Check out my blog sometime. http://srahn.typepad.com
Posted by: Stephen | Friday, April 01, 2005 at 12:39 AM
I never thought learning English should be easy even though so many seem to learn it. People that chastise foreigners for the way they talk make me mad. Most Americans can only speak English and most foreigners can speak their language plus English. Gee, who's smarter? I have a hard time learning languages. I don't see why everyday items should have to be male or female and why the nouns and verbs are reversed. I guess that would make English the complete opposite of every other language? Hmmm.
Posted by: Carrie | Monday, May 02, 2005 at 05:05 PM
LOL. Great blog.
Posted by: fred | Monday, May 16, 2005 at 04:05 PM
If you live in NY, it's because 90% of your teachers from kindergarden through 12th grade don't speak proper english or use proper grammer, and brcause all your friends think it's cool to be ghetto and speak in some sort of gangster rap-ebonics-slang. The informality and shorthand of email and instant messaging no doubt doesn't help things. And parents. . .
Average teacher: "youz guys don't know nothing."
Average student: "Yo what up dog?"
average email: "lol, thats gr8, c u soon, waiting 4fr"
Posted by: Lerned Hand | Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 08:17 PM
You spelled 'grammar' wrong...
Posted by: SumYungFoo | Friday, June 03, 2005 at 07:40 AM
I spelled Learned wrong too, but then, I'm from New York. . .
Posted by: lerned hand | Saturday, June 04, 2005 at 12:20 AM
Let's not forget you also spelled "because" wrong. Must be the informality of this blog ;)
Love the list!
Posted by: e | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 09:46 AM
This is fun, but then, if you looked at it, and tried to teach this at your ELL class, they'd never get this 'till they know what's the difference in their meaning.
Tear and tear have the same pronounciation,
pair and pear have the same pronounciation but differenciates in spelling and meaning.
Posted by: Priscilla | Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 02:47 PM
I remember once when inside some book about why english is so hard, and there was around 75 pages full of words saying why english is so hard. Also, i saw this same thing and a few paragraphs on funkypages.com/english_hard.
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Posted by: mescane | Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 08:02 AM
We have brazilians students in Florida to learn english, and I can confirm that they have hard time with some similar words in English. For exemple, how do can we pronounce Live (live tv) and Live (survive). heheheh
Take care every one!
Posted by: Learning English | Sunday, December 24, 2006 at 06:23 PM
We have brazilians students in Florida to learn english, and I can confirm that they have hard time with some similar words in English. For exemple, how do can we pronounce Live (live tv) and Live (survive). heheheh
Take care every one!
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