Why it's so hard to learn English - x from R&R

Why it's so hard to learn English

 

Here is more evidence that the English language is hard to learn

 

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. At the army base a bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22. You park in a driveway, yet drive on a parkway

That's awesome! Thanks for posting it. Here's one I like to use when I'm teaching.

It's simple, just pronounce this word:
"ghoti"

Your three clues are
1. enough
2. women
3. information
4. it's an animal

The answer is pronounced like "fish"

enouGH (f)
wOmen (i)
informaTIon (sh)

 Geez, you beat me to that one, Cartjeman ..  

  Although the version I remember was "sh" as in operaTIon   and "f" as in lauGH ..  



   A child should be a fish  

I live in a  community and a region full of  Mexican-Americans. I have a lot of friends who came across after they were school age and had to learn English as they went along. As loose as the language is, it's a thousand wonders those of us who were immersed in it from the getgo ever figure it out, much less those who had to learn it later in life.

I was driving down the road the other day and thinking about getting where I was going "with time to spare". How many nuances is there for that one word, "spare"? Think about it. It can mean "extra" as in spare time or "something kept in reserve" as in a spare tire. But it can also mean lacking as in some one whose build is spare. Or it can mean "to refrain from" as in sparing the rod and spoiling the child. I'm not sure how spare ribs fits in there, but I like the **** out of some spare ribs. I don't know how non-natives ever figure it out.

Great post.  I'll get back at grammer queen.  When u hit my age the verbs and nouns run together.  I gonna learn Manderin.