Welcome to the English language, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and a big question I get about English grammar is this: WHY IS IT SO HARD???

I sympathize. There are a lot of exceptions to English grammar rules, probably because English is really just a compound of many different languages that were adopted and adapted over the years. In English, it’s these exceptions that make the language difficult, although the actual grammar is relatively straightforward compared to many other languages.

Don’t believe me? Consider Russian, and consider only nouns. Nouns can have three genders, completely unrelated to the object’s actual qualities. Since there’s no strict word order rule, the main way to differentiate between different uses of nouns is by completely changing the endings … or sometimes the entire word, depending on what you’re trying to say. There are six singular endings for each noun gender, and six more for plural, adding to a grand total of 36 possible spellings that completely change the meaning of your sentence. Also, verb gender and number have to agree with noun gender and number.

Maybe … English isn’t so bad after all.

That’s your Grammar Minute! Visit thegrammarminute.com for more tips and tricks.