And that's because it makes us realise that we have already mastered an incredibly complex and subtle language ... yes, it's English.
So .. it can be done.
I've been dipping into it, and almost every page has something in it that I wasn't even aware that I knew about English... my native language.
I knew it ..but I didn't formally know I knew it.
Here's a randomly chosen section ... pages 146/7 in my edition ...
Prepositional Meanings: Place
6.7
Dimension
When we use a preposition to indicate place, we do so in relation to the dimensional properties, whether subjectively or objectively conceived, of the location concerned. Consider the following examples :
My car is at the cottage
There is a new roof on the cottage
There are two beds in the cottage
The use of at makes cottage a dimensionless location, a mere point in relation to which the car can be indicated. With on, the cottage becomes a two-dimensional area, covered by a roof, though on is also capable of use with a one-dimensional object, as in " Put your signature on this line." With in, the cottage becomes the three-dimensional object which in reality it is, though in is is capable of being used with objects that are essentially two-dimensional , such as " The cow is in the field ", where field is conceived of as an enclosed space ( contrast " We walked on the beach"). Fig 6.1 sets out the dimensional orientation of the chief prepositions of place ....[ brace yourselves !!!] ... [that last bit in brackets isn't in the book]
Just think .... you know everything in that diagram ...and you've known it for years .... not to mention nearly everything else in that huge book. But, by and large, you aren't aware of "knowing" any of it because you took it all in almost subliminally as you grew up.
So ... you probably know a lot more French than you realise as well....
But now, to blast all that theory stuff away, here's Dolly .. " Faut y croire "
C'est fou tout ce qu'on ingurgite
Tout ce qu'on arrive à avaler
Faudrait peut-être qu'on s'agite
Faudrait éteindre la télé
Faut y croire ...
Qui peut bien, oui qui peut bien nous laisser ainsi tout foutre en l'air
Pourquoi on, oui pourquoi on reste ainsi à se laisser faire
Faut y croire
On dit que l'on ne croit à rien
Mais on continue de rêver
On dit que ça ne sert à rien
Mais on continue d'en parler