I Swear English › Limericks
What is a limerick?
A limerick is a short, funny, five-line poem with a bouncy rhythm. It is a very English kind of humour — often silly, sometimes cheeky — and it is brilliant for practising the stress and rhythm of spoken English.
How a limerick works
The rhyme pattern is AABBA: lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with each other and have a longer, three-beat rhythm; lines 3 and 4 rhyme together and are shorter. Read one aloud and you'll feel the beat straight away:
There once was a student of Crewe,
Whose English was patchy and new.
But he practised each day,
In a confident way,
And now speaks it as well as you do.
How limericks help your pronunciation
Because the rhythm is so strong, limericks train your ear for which syllables English speakers stress. Try reading them out loud, tapping the beat, and then writing your own — it's harder (and funnier) than it looks, and it quietly improves your pronunciation.