My Dilemma

 

 

I have a dilemma,

I must return to school,

Come on man, give me a hearing!

I am serious, I am no fool.

 

Forty years as an educator

Imparting what I had learned

And thirteen years prior to that

And now I must unlearn.

 

I must beg your indulgence

As I try to explain myself,

To be quite honest with you

This is affecting my health.

 

Not a problem with Math

At least, not yet,

But a major one with English Language

Which I now have to vet.

 

While back in primary school

I was taught English Language,

Now sixty years thereafter

It’s become difficult to manage.

 

Please, please,

I am getting to the matter,

Just hear me out and after this

I’ll no longer be a bother.

 

As a friend of mine would say

Let us be more specific,

This is about some special pronouns

Including he, she and it.

 

I learnt at school and taught

That ‘he’ is a masculine pronoun

‘She’ is regarded as feminine

And ‘it’ to neither belong.

 

They taught me ‘it’ is neuter

And that I knew for sure,

But neutered keeps on coming up

And I am confused the more.

 

Now these are singular pronouns

But there is the plural case:

Let me now identify these

And this I will do in haste.

 

 

Singular: he, she and it-

Plural: they and them!

I understood this quite readily then

But now I have a problem.

 

Now it seems we aim to please

A certain ‘minority group’

And this my friend, I will tell you,

Is how far we have stooped.

 

They intend to do away

With the ‘he’ and with the ‘she’

And propose that ‘they’ be used inclusively

To accommodate their absurdity.

 

For ‘him’ and ‘her’, I should mention,

We would use the pronoun ‘them’

But for singular and plural

This presents a problem.

 

How would we differentiate

Whether it’s singular or plural?

The way I learnt it back in school

This was rather simple.

 

I say refer to them as ‘it’

If they are neither he nor she

But do not mash up English Language

For this perverted stupidity.

 

So now you see my dilemma

And why I must go back to school,

It’s to unlearn what made sense back then

And now become a fool.

 

Stewart Russell © April 19, 2023

 

The Sentence

 

 

 

The sentence is a group of words

Strung together to form a community,

Each word performs a function

And works together in unity.

They do not clash and fight as we do

But are contented with their lot

And though they may rotate positions

They’re not fazed with their new spot.

I may say, “The cat just ran out the door.”

Or, “Out the door the cat just ran.”

The function of each word remains the same

Even with a change to the set out plan.

Let’s think of the most basic sentence

Though somewhat complex it may be

For one word is what at first appears,

Just one simple word is what we see.

“Come!” the teacher told the boy

And he understood just what she meant,

He reluctantly followed after her

Seemingly aware of her intent.

One word we see, you may argue

But the other word is understood,

Had you been in the place of that little boy

The same thing he did you would.

I deliberately embolden that little word

So that you would clearly see

That though not seen at the very first

The ‘you’ is understood to be.

“You come” is what the teacher meant

And clearly what he understood

And obliged to obey on her command

The boy did exactly what he should.

As a youngster in primary school

I had designated functions for words,

Cricket for me was always a noun

And walk was nothing but a verb.

  

Then later when I started to teach

I observed this was not always so

For words were never meant to be alone

But in their communities their functions show.

This was so enchanting for me

That I explored it to the fullest,

What an exciting study it turned out to be

As I put my students to the test!

What part of speech is ‘cricket’?

“A noun” was the concerted reply

Then placed in a community of words

That response they were forced to deny.

Take for example the following,

“We were there at the cricket match.”

‘Cricket’ as used could not be a noun

Not with the word to which it’s attached.

It’s not in the naming business here

But most definitely shows describing might,

A descriptive word you must agree

Yes, an adjective must be its type.

For adjectives describe

That’s the work they mostly do

And when they function in communities

Their work is clearly viewed.

What part of speech is ‘walk’?

A verb they all chanted with glee

But renounced their chorused position

When ‘walk’ worked in a community.

This example was drawn to their attention

And given to them to appraise,

“The walk was long and tiring,”

Where the word ‘walk’ held their gaze.

A verb it really could not be

For its function appeared to be different,

Somewhat like a noun, though intangible

This was the students’ bent.

“Correct,” this teacher surely agreed

For that’s the function where ‘walk’ is at,

Abstract noun if required to qualify

But a noun at least is the actual fact.




 

So to determine a word’s part of speech

It must be in a community,

Therein we can ascertain its label

By its obvious functionality.

A describing word is an adjective

If a pronoun or noun it describes,

If on the other hand it modifies a verb

Then an adverb should be prescribed.

Not all verbs are action words

Like has and have and is and are,

Neither are all adjectives descriptive words

Some point to objects near or far.

"Lucy 'has' a book."
Is a sentence proper and true
But 'has' is not an action word;
Can you see my point of view?

The sentence with all its working words

Is like our local community

With teachers, nurses and policemen

Working for the good of everybody.

When our community workers do their job

We all derived the benefit,

When words in their community function right

The sentence is far more explicit.

 

Stewart Russell © 2017

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I want to address a situation

That took me by storm today

“Out of the mouths of babes”

I’ve often heard people say.

You will wonder like I did

At the news that I received

And even as I think about it now

I just cannot believe.

A little girl just ten years old,

Accused while at primary school

Of being homophobic

Said, she was quite confused.

She only learnt the other day

The meaning of the word

So when referred to as homophobic

She was quite perturbed.

She was excluded from school

For alleged homophobic comments,

Five days denied of her education

Five days from school she spent.

A child’s education was withheld

When she spoke out against a wrong

And what is so amazing is,

The school system went along.

She did not hate LGBT people,

Only that it was taught in school,

And that ever since such had begun

The students were being confused.

Before the teaching of LGBT

Students were sure of their gender

But now since its introduction

To madness they have surrendered.

Out of the mouth of a babe,

A primary school child of just ten years

And, in opposition to the system,

A vital truth appears.

  

A child’s gender was never in doubt

Even two-year-olds knew,

Whether girl or boy, they could tell

By the facts within their view.

And no one could ever fool them

However much they insisted,

They could differentiate girl from boy

And when challenged, they resisted.

I know a two-year-old

She is adamant she is a girl

And if you should suggest otherwise,

She would think you are absurd.

But now even teachers vacillate

And people that should know better too,

“When old enough they can decide…”

I wonder, is that is your view?

Children knew their gender

Before they knew what LGBT meant,

The fact there is now confusion

Is what this ten-year-old resents.

And quite right she is, though young,

And that truth we all know

But for some sinister, hidden reason,

We don’t want that truth to show.

When a ten-year-old is punished

For boldly speaking forth the truth,

Quite a lot must be wrong with us

And therein lies the proof.

The fact it was Gay Pride Month

Only makes it all the worse,

It just goes to show to one and all

In education what now comes first.

“Oh! What a tangled web we weave

When first we practise to deceive”,

When the truth we won’t receive

Then a lie we will believe.

Stewart Russell © July 2019

“Oh! What a tangled web we weave

When first we practise to deceive”.

Extracted from a play written by Sir Walter Scott

 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:21 KJV