Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> The problem with English is

mostly everything.

I am a native speaker, which means that I didn't realise that british english isn't actively taught. Like we aren't taught grammar in any particular way (apart from I before E, except after C, which is mostly bollocks, because it depends on the origin of the word. [their for example.])

Basically we are dipped in the language and we either succeed, or in my case dumped in remediation. (I can't spell for shit)

I didn't realise this until I was learning another language as an adult. They were usings terms like "present continuous, reflexives, compound verbs, etc" None of which I knew the practical meaning of.

Teaching a child to read, again you just realise that basically its 5 different languages smeared together, with shit all rules. Syntax, yeah we have some, but no native speak can explain the rules. (we have adjective ordering , but I don't know what it is, I can only tell you if you've got it wrong.)



> (apart from I before E, except after C, which is mostly bollocks, because it depends on the origin of the word. [their for example.])

Missing second half of the rhyme: "or when sounded like 'a' as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'"




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: