OUR WONDERFUL LANGUAGE.
Most foreigners find in the English language a difficulty as bad as our extraordinary spelling, and that is the way in which we mix up our verbs and prepositions. Take the verb "Break." "Ah." says t-he Frenchman, valiantly striving with the English language, '"I saw Mees Smeeth to-day. Her school w break over." "Breaking UP." ' corrects his English friend gently. "Why is her. school breaking up?'" "Because the measles they haw broken through it." "Broken OUT IN it. Yes? And is she going away?" "Yes. m'sier, but she afraid of ze burglars, so she have the school guarded while she is away lest it should be broken—broken—under." "Broken INTO. Oh yes? And she is herself quite well?" "But no. She i« broken—how do you say?" "Broken DOWN. I'm sorry to bear that.Have you seen her brother lately?" ''You mean the one that is a breaker—a—t" "A stockbroker. Exactly." No wonder that the foreigner is apt to regard our language with awe. Yet it is making good headway, despite its many difficulties, and may even in time, become the language of the world.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 270, 11 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)
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185OUR WONDERFUL LANGUAGE. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 270, 11 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)
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