The mad, crazy beauty of the English language

The mad, crazy beauty of the English language

English is a rich and colourful language, with wonderful depth and scope. However, for people who are not natives - and even for those of us who are – it can be a bit of a minefield. William Bullokar must take a lot of the blame. In 1586, he published Pamphlet for Grammar, which intended to move English towards the rule-laden Latin. Cheers, Bill!

Let’s take a look at some of the weirdest and most confusing English language quirks.

All vowel sounds are not created equally

Cough, though, through – all the same vowel structure, but all pronounced differently. Why? They just are.

I before E except after C, except…

This is a grammar rule most of us can cite, but the truth is, this “rule” has so many exceptions it is not considered to be even a rule of thumb anymore!

Stress matters

The meaning of some words can change depending on which syllable is stressed. Take for example ADDress – the details of where you live – and addRESS – what you do when you speak to someone.

Trio of insanity

Then we come three of the most mind-bending grammar traps: homographs, homophones and contranyms.

Homographs – these are words that are spelled the same (and may even be pronounced the same) but mean different things. Examples of some that are not pronounced the same are tear – to cry and to rip – and bass – a fish and a low-pitched frequency sound.

Homophones by contrast have different meanings but sound the same, like worn and warn.

Contranyms are positively the best of the bunch – and much loved by us at Indaba. These are words that have multiple and opposite meaning. Confused? You will be. Dust is a contranym. You dust – to remove, er, dust from a surface, but you also dust a cake with sugar, adding something to a surface. Clip is also a contranym. You clip things together, but clip also means to cut apart. Contranyms are widely accepted as one of the hardest grammar rules when learning English as a second language.

On English Language Day, we celebrate its incredible quirks. We love language at Indaba and wouldn’t have English any other way.