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ArishMell · 70-79, M
Not sure how you would class them as "irregular" in English because the language is an amalgam of many. Nouns tend not to be "irregular", but their plurals may be; and at least English words are neuter, not forcing you to remember the gender of inanimate objects.
There are three main classes of plural in English, with endings thus:
' ~s' : Mainly words from Old English and Northern European languages,
'~ae ' from Greek, e.g. Formulae, Minutiae.
'~a ' and '~i@from Latin, e.g. Referenda, Stadia, Curricula. Radii
The animal world has a selection of irregular plurals:
Mouse - Mice (Yet the plural of "House" is "Houses".
Goose - Geese
Moose - er, Meese? No. Mooses? No. It's Moose. Similarly with Elk, Deer, Sheep.
Octopus - Octopi? That sounds correct but being Greek not Latin, so Octopuses.
There is though a modern tendency to make the language artificially irregular and very inelegant.
Some of this is by clumsy suffices (e.g. "inspirational" instead of "inspiring", "transportation" for "transport"); or poor plurals that ignore etymology.
Another trend is muddling nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. E.g. the "commute", the weekly "shop", a new "build" home; meaning commuting, shopping, newly-built home.
Languages do change over time, but for centuries this was by gradual evolution. Now I think they are being forced, partly by the flood of technical terms that started in the late 18C, and now very much pushed by American cultural, commercial and Internet hegemony. The NHS is guilty there, for example describing its consultants' medical skills as their "specialties".
Nor can it be helped by such acts of linguist and cultural vandalism as the Oxford English Dictionary excising all nature-related words (common names of plants and animals) from its "Junior" edition. Its feeble excuse, was to make room for computer-related words. It should of course, include both vocabularies.
There are three main classes of plural in English, with endings thus:
' ~s' : Mainly words from Old English and Northern European languages,
'~ae ' from Greek, e.g. Formulae, Minutiae.
'~a ' and '~i@from Latin, e.g. Referenda, Stadia, Curricula. Radii
The animal world has a selection of irregular plurals:
Mouse - Mice (Yet the plural of "House" is "Houses".
Goose - Geese
Moose - er, Meese? No. Mooses? No. It's Moose. Similarly with Elk, Deer, Sheep.
Octopus - Octopi? That sounds correct but being Greek not Latin, so Octopuses.
There is though a modern tendency to make the language artificially irregular and very inelegant.
Some of this is by clumsy suffices (e.g. "inspirational" instead of "inspiring", "transportation" for "transport"); or poor plurals that ignore etymology.
Another trend is muddling nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. E.g. the "commute", the weekly "shop", a new "build" home; meaning commuting, shopping, newly-built home.
Languages do change over time, but for centuries this was by gradual evolution. Now I think they are being forced, partly by the flood of technical terms that started in the late 18C, and now very much pushed by American cultural, commercial and Internet hegemony. The NHS is guilty there, for example describing its consultants' medical skills as their "specialties".
Nor can it be helped by such acts of linguist and cultural vandalism as the Oxford English Dictionary excising all nature-related words (common names of plants and animals) from its "Junior" edition. Its feeble excuse, was to make room for computer-related words. It should of course, include both vocabularies.
https://languageonschools.com/blog/english-irregular-verbs-list/
It's a complete list.
It's a complete list.
@ArishMell Sorry - I accept the website spelling looks wrong, but that is exactly how the site labels itself.
My best guess is that the site designer thought a funky spelling might have more appeal to kids.
Since kids have adopted their own codes for text messaging, all kinds of weird spellings and substitutions seem to have become commonplace.
I wouldn't normally have recommended a kids' educational site, but it was complete and comprehensive; no other site was better.
My best guess is that the site designer thought a funky spelling might have more appeal to kids.
Since kids have adopted their own codes for text messaging, all kinds of weird spellings and substitutions seem to have become commonplace.
I wouldn't normally have recommended a kids' educational site, but it was complete and comprehensive; no other site was better.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@hartfire Interesting point. I must admit I'd not thought of that, having no teenage children to try to translate!
It did make me think of a peculiar piece of, probably, teenagers' slang, I have seen a few times on here and elsewhere. This is the meaningless "on" after the word "hate" or "love".
It did make me think of a peculiar piece of, probably, teenagers' slang, I have seen a few times on here and elsewhere. This is the meaningless "on" after the word "hate" or "love".
empanadas · 31-35, M
No one cares to know