Actress and writer Desiré Gardner’s funny attempt to explain English grammar to her child has struck a chord with parents.
South Africa (03 August 2026) – Helping your child with homework is one thing. Explaining English grammar when Afrikaans is more familiar at home? That can be a completely different challenge.
South African actress and writer Desiré Gardner shared a funny and relatable moment while helping her child prepare for an English lesson, and the conversation quickly became a reminder that the language does not always make things easy.
The lesson began with what seemed like a straightforward rule: when there is one thing, you use is, and when there is more than one, you use are.
“One thing is, but three things are,” she explains.
“I am” does not follow the same rule, while “you are” remains are, even when you refers to only one person. Then there is everybody, which sounds like it refers to many people but is treated as singular.
The pair later moves on to adverbs and adjectives, with Desiré encouraging her child to work through what each type of word does in a sentence.
“The adverb adds to the verb,” her child says.
The sweet exchange is one many South African parents may recognise. Whether it is English homework, Afrikaans vocabulary or a maths problem that looks completely different from the way it was taught years ago, helping children learn can sometimes turn into a lesson for parents too.
See full video here.
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