Monday, November 04, 2013

Ten Fun Facts About English

Hello there readers, are you interested in finding out some fun English language facts? Then you have come to the right place! This article will give you some fun facts to have to surprise your friends and family. Sit back and read these facts, we are sure they will make you laugh.


1.  Here’s a simple one to get you started. The shortest complete sentence in English is: "I am." This is a proven fact that, and surprisingly most people do not know! I asked a few of my friends what they thought was the shortest complete sentence and most of them replied ‘I’ which is not a stupid answer, but it is a false one. There you go fact number one to get you warmed up.

2. The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "j" is called a "superscript dot". This is a great fact to test your English teacher or a friend or family member who is taking English language at university, to see if they know their stuff.

3. Next up. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram". I bet your thinking where would I use a sentence which contains all the letters of the alphabet? Well here is an example: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. This sentence is used to test type writers before starting a job.


4.  Have you ever been told about the longest word in the English dictionary:

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicouolcanokoniosis. 

This is supposedly the longest word in the English language according to the Oxford English dictionary. Surprisingly, there is a second work that keeps up with the longest word in the English dictionary, although it’s plural: 

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses

Try and pronounce it, it’s very difficult!

5. Here is a fun fact you can test yourself with right now: No words in the English language rhyme with orange, silver or purple. Try and think of a word that rhymes with one of them, not one word will rhyme!


6. Another fact you can test yourself with. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language, 87 in total! Go ahead and write down as many definitions you can, then Google the definition to see the ones you missed. This is also a good exercise to practice with other words as it will improve your vocabulary.

7. This English language fact is my personal favourite.’ There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, “Therein”: the, he, in, rein, her, there, here, ere, therein, herein. It’s amazing how one word can contain so many others.

8. This fact really caught my attention, as it is something which I hadn’t noticed before. Some words exist only in plural form, for example: glasses (Spectacles) binoculars, scissors, shears, tongs, gallows, trouser, jeans, pants, pyjamas (But note that clothing words often become singular when we use them as modifiers, as in "trouser pocket"). Did you notice this before?


9. Have you ever wondered why the word rhythm looks so strange? That’s because it is the longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u). Look up and down this page and you will see a vowel in nearlöy every word, except rhythm.

10. Last but not least. More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter. I wouldn’t advise you to try and write down as many words beginning with S as you can though, you will be there for a very long time (There are 2529 words in total).


There you have it, Twin’s top 10 English language facts! We hope this article has fascinated you and taught you some fun new facts about English. You might even be able to catch some people out! Pass on these facts and we are sure people will be impressed.

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