English

How much do you know about English? Sure, we all speak it fluently, it's our native language, but how much do you really know? Think about it. Adjectives, adverbs, negation. Alright, 3 for 3. What about verb conjugations? Past tense, present, future? What about the conditional? The pluperfect? It's like a the Issac Asimov Super Quiz in the newspaper...each question getting a little harder. Perfect? Imperfect? Imperfect subjunctive? Pluperfect subjunctive? Betcha don't know that one. Actually, you do know all these. You just don't know you do.

I'm pretty sure I had an English and/or Language Arts class every year between about 4th grade and my senior year of high school, but in all those years of studying English, I have most definitely learned more about the English language in my Spanish, French and Latin classes. By a long shot. To the extent that I shouldn't even compare them. And even still, I feel like there is so much more to learn and so much more I just don't know. 

I've started teaching English here to a 26 year old guy (named Carlos) who wants to be better at conversational English so he can make it through job interviews in English. We started this week and met two times for a total of three hours, in which the entire time was spent talking English. His English is fairly good, but he still needs practice and some help on vocab and grammar. I also helped one of my host sisters with her English homework one night last week. The homework was harder. She was learning about negation, and didn't understand the difference between why we use "don't" vs. "haven't" and in which contexts each is used. Writing this out just made a lightbulb flash over my head, but when we were looking at her worksheet together, I wasn't able to explain the difference, and I realized how much I take for granted about English. It is the way it is because that's just the way it is. It made me feel sorry for all people who learn it as a second language. It's not an easy one. There are exceptions to every single rule, and not just one or two exceptions, but a whole bunch of them. When I was working with Carlos this week, he told me he has a hard time with irregular verbs. "To have" for example. I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, you all have, they have. Why do most groups of people "have" something, but he or she just "has" it? Again, I discovered that I couldn't explain it. English: 2, Elizabeth: 0. And on top of that, conversational American English is incredibly informal, riddled with slang, shortcuts, colloquial phrases and lax grammar. Carlos said he could read English just fine and understand it, but he kept asking me to repeat what I had just said, talk slower, and explain phrases that I think are typical but that he didn't understand. So now, I ask you to take a moment to thank our English. For being something that is taken for granted in everyday life and for being something that most people, myself included, don't give a second thought to.


Finally, the answers to today's Issac Asimov Quiz. All using the verb "to eat" in the first person singular form.
1. I eat (present)
2. I ate (past)
3. I will eat (future)
4. I should/would/could/might eat (conditional)
5. I had eaten (pluperfect)
6. I have eaten (perfect)
7. I was eating (imperfect)
8. If I was eating then...(imperfect subjunctive)*
9. If I had eaten...then...(pluperfect subjunctive)*

*The subjunctive form of a verb is most commonly used in "if...then...phrases and followed by the conditional...If I had eaten, then I wouldn't be hungry.