English Irritants

I have been doing some spontaneous ESL work. Nothing official. Just helping a few friends out. I was listening to someone read the other day and after correcting him for the 3 millionth time he looked at me and said, "Make up your mind. You said the sound was one way up here and another way down here!" Poor guy...I had no answer for him. Fact is English is a crazy language. It follows little rules, makes up it's own and then when it can't think of a rule it just is the way it is because some guy said so. Hmm... Here are some examples- "ough" Tough Thought bought through ought cough rough So some of them follow each other but for the most part, different... the "EW" sound to two through who ew you blue juice loose knew cute All the way to spell the "EW" sound. Not that I am partial by any means but let's take a stroll down the Spanish lane.

A B C CH D E F G H I J

K L M N Ñ O P Q R S T

U V W X Y Z

Each of these letters will say what they say in the alphabet...no exception!

But can English be that easy? No! They have to be difficult just because they can! Let's take a look at how many ways the English alphabet can sound.

A - ay, ah, a

C - c, s

E - ee, eh

G - g, h

I - ih, eye

O - oh, ooh, o

...

Getting the point?

Done with my soap box!