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Interesting Facts About English

in no particular order...
1. The most common letter in English is "e".
2. The most common vowel in English is "e", followed by "a".
3. The most common consonant in English is "r", followed by "t".
4. Every syllable in English must have a vowel sound!. "ot all syllables have
consonants.
#. $nly two English words in current use end in "%gry". They are "angry" and
"hungry".
&. The word "boo''eeper" along with its associate "boo''eeping"! is the only
unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. $ther such
words, li'e "sweet%toothed", re(uire a hyphen to be readily readable.
). The word "tris'aide'aphobia" means "e*treme fear of the number 13". This
superstition is related to "paras'evide'atriaphobia", which means "fear of +riday
the 13th".
,. -ore English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.
9. . preposition is always followed by a noun ie noun, proper noun, pronoun,
noun group, gerund!.
1/. The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that
contains no letter more than once.
11. . sentence that contains all 2& letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".
12. The following sentence contains all 2& letters of the alphabet0 "The (uic' brown
fo* 1umps over the la2y dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or
'eyboards.
13. The only word in English that ends with the letters "%mt" is "dreamt" which is a
variant spelling of "dreamed"! % as well of course as "undreamt" 0!
14. . word formed by 1oining together parts of e*isting words is called a "blend" or,
less commonly, a "portmanteau word"!. -any new words enter the English
language in this way. E*amples are "brunch" brea'fast 3 lunch!4 "motel"
motorcar 3 hotel!4 and "guesstimate" guess 3 estimate!. "ote that blends are
not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole
words 1oin together, for e*ample0 website, blac'board, dar'room.
1#. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the 5ree' alphabet0
alpha, b6ta.
1&. The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "1" is called a "superscript dot".
1). 7n normal usage, the 8 symbol has several names, for e*ample0 hash, pound
sign, number sign.
1,. 7n English, the 9 symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".
1:. 7f we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is 'nown as
an "$*ford comma" or a "serial comma". +or e*ample0 "7 drin' coffee, tea, and
wine."
2/. ;ome words e*ist only in plural form, for e*ample0 glasses spectacles!,
binoculars, scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trousers, 1eans, pants, py1amas
but note that clothing words often become singular when we use them as
modifiers, as in "trouser poc'et"!.
21. The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "7 am."
22. The word "<hec'mate" in chess comes from the =ersian phrase ";hah -at"
meaning "the 'ing is helpless".
23. >e pronounce the combination "ough" in : different ways, as in the following
sentence which contains them all0 ". rough%coated, dough%faced, thoughtful
ploughman strode through the streets of ;carborough4 after falling into a
slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
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24. The longest English word without a true vowel a, e, i, o or u! is "rhythm".
2#. The only planet not named after a god is our own, Earth. The others are, in
order from the ;un, -ercury, @enus, AEarth,B -ars, Cupiter, ;aturn, Dranus,
"eptune.
2&. There are only 4 English words in common use ending in "%dous"0 ha2ardous,
horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.
2). >e can find 1/ words in the )%letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its
letters0 the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
2,. The following sentence contains ) identical words in a row and still ma'es
sense. "7t is true for allthat that that that that that that refers to is not the same
that that that that refers to." (= It is true for all that, that that "that" which that
"that" refers to is not the same "that" which that "that" refers to.)
7t is true for all that that that that that that that
pronoun con1unction determiner noun relative
pronoun
determiner noun
ad1ective! "that" which ad1ective! "that"
2:.
refers to is not the same that that that that refers to.
noun relative
pronoun
determiner noun
"that" which ad1ective! "that"
3/.
. sentence with a similar pattern, which may help to unravel the above, is0
It is true, despite everything you say, that this word which this word refers to is
not the same word which this word refers to.
$r, if you insist on being really correct0
It is true, despite everything you say, that this word to which this word refers is
not the same word to which this word refers.
31. The "E>EFTG 'eyboard" gains its name from the fact that its first & letter 'eys
are E, >, E, F, T and G. $n early typewriters the 'eys were arranged in such a
way as to minimi2e the clashing of the mechanical rods that carried the letters.

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