Listen to English - Nonsense

We have had some quite serious podcasts recently, so here – for a change – is some complete nonsense.

Early in the morning in the middle of the night,

Two dead boys got up to fight.

Back to back they faced each other

Drew their swords and shot each other

A deaf policeman heard the noise

And came and killed the two dead boys

He took them in to court and said

These two boys I have found dead.

This is a very old nonsense rhyme, and there are many different versions of it, both in Britain and in North America.

Look at the third and fourth lines. “Each other” (or “one another”) is the way we express reciprocal actions in English. For example: Kevin faced Matt. Matt faced Kevin. They faced each other. Kevin shot Matt. Matt shot Kevin. They shot each other. I saw Sarah. Sarah saw me. We saw each other. And so on.