Foxes With Sockses

Learning the English language is challenging.  It is filled with pitfalls and minefields that constantly keep us on our toes . . . whether or not we are hanging around with a Fox wearing Socks or a Cat in the Hat.

The following poem is not my original work, but it’s too cute not to share . . .

OK, class, let’s Start:

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

“No wonder Dr. Seuss always had such FUN!”
Said the Cat in the Hat to Thing 2 and Thing 1.

Aah . . . that’s better!

An extended version: The English Lesson, by Richard Krogh