Difficult English
English is said to be a difficult language to learn: here’s why…
• The farm is used to produce produce.
• This is a good time to present the present.
• We must polish the Polish furniture.
• He could lead if he would get the lead out.
• The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
• The bandage was wound around the wound.
• The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
• When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
• They were too close to the door to close it.
• A bass is painted on the head of the bass drum.
• I did not object to the object.
• The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
• The wind is too strong to wind the sail.
• There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
• Upon seeing the tear in her clothes she shed a tear.
• The buck does funny things when the does are present.
• They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
• To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
• How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
• After a number of injections my jaw got number.
• I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
Let’s take this up a step
The word “up” perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word. The dictionary lists it as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].
It’s easy to understand up, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake up? At a meeting, why does a topic come up? Why do we speak up, and why are the officers up for election and why is it up to the secretary to write up a report? We call up our friends and we use it to brighten up a room, polish up the silver, we warm up the leftovers and clean up the kitchen. We lock up the house and some guys fix up the old car. People stir up trouble, line up for tickets, work up an appetite, and think up excuses. And to be dressed is one thing but to be dressed up is special.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding up . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing up. When it rains, it wets up the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry up.
A drain must be opened up because it is stopped up.
We open up a store in the morning and close it up at night.
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of up, look the word up in the dictionary.
In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes up almost 1/4 of the page and can add up to about thirty definitions.
If you are up to it, you might try building up a list of the many ways up is used.
It will take up a lot of your time, but if you don’t give up, you may wind up with a hundred or more.
We seem to be pretty mixed up about up!
Our time is up so let’s wrap it up and shut up!
Lastly, what is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? U P!
Now use the little share buttons and send this on to everyone you can look up in your address book.