About Spell-Tech
Why Is English Spelling So Difficult Anyway?
 J.Nogowski |
So you're not alone. Spelling is a challenge that people have struggled with for a long time, regardless of language.
English spelling has unique features that complicate mastering it. The alphabet only has 26 letters, but those letters can make up 44 different sounds. And while there are only 5 vowels (a e i o u), they can make up to 25 different sounds.
This anonymous poem will help you lighten up as you face the challenge ahead.
Our Queer Lingo
When in the English language we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it's true
That we sew, but we also saw few?
And why cannot makers of verse
Rhyme the word horse with worse?
Beard sounds much different from heard
Cord is so different from word
Cow is cow, but low is low.
Shoe never rhymes with foe.
And think of hose, and dose, and lose.
And think of goose and yet of choose.
Doll and roll, and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why paid and said, I pray?
Mould is not pronounced like could
And done is not like gone and lone.
If there is one tooth and a whole set of teeth
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth?
If the singular is this and the plural is these
Should the plural of kiss be kese?
We speak of masculine pronouns he, his, him,
Why not she, shis, and shim?
If the plural of box is boxes
Why is it oxen instead of oxes?
If the plural of mouse is mice
Why doesn't house become hice?
If the plural of man is men
Why is it pans instead of pen?
If the plural of foot is feet
Why is it boots instead of beet?
To sum it all up, it seems to me
That sounds and letters just do not agree.
