🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <10182@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> matt@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil (Matt Rosenblatt) writes:
|> >English wound up with an easy-to-speak, easy-to-understand 
|> >isolated SVO structure.  That's one of its special virtues.

For a speaker of another Western European language it's not too bad, but the
belief that it's wonderfully simple for everyone is one of the pieces of 
jingoistic folklore that we English-speakers pick up.  Anyone who has heard
the sort of telegraphic English that first-language speakers of Chinese
sometimes use has direct evidence that English has plenty of arbitrary fluff
that it could easily get by without.  Our copious supply of irregular and
regular strong verbs (sing, sang, sung, etc.) are present difficulties, too.

|> >In fact, we've got more words than any other language, period.
|> >That's another of the special virtues that English has.  

This is another point in which English is fairly difficult to learn.  Proper
usage requires the user to select the proper word from a large set of near
synonmyms, based on minute contextual and semantic cues that must be very
difficult to pick up.  I know that a lot of native speakers do very badly
at this, especially when attempting a high literary style.

Another aspect of Engoish grammar that is seldom or never taught, but
difficult to learn is intonation, which is heavily used to mark structure,
and contrast/emphasis.

----
John E. Koontz (koontz@bldr.nist.gov)

Disclaimer:  Views and recommendations, express or implied, are my own, and
do not reflect the opinion or policy of my employers.