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30+ Fun English Language Facts

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English is a language that never ceases to amaze and amuse, with its myriad rules, exceptions and words borrowed from other languages.

Whether you’re a seasoned wordsmith or just beginning your journey to master this global language, 30+ Fun English Language Facts promises to be a delightful adventure into English’s eccentricities and curiosities.

Prepare to be amazed, amused and perhaps even perplexed as we explore the peculiarities that make English both fascinating and, at times, utterly baffling. So, buckle up, word lovers – we’re about to start on a thrilling linguistic journey!

 

English Language Facts

1.A pangram is a sentence that contains every letter in the language. For example, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

2.The phrase “long time no see” is believed to be a literal translation of a Native American or Chinese phrase as it is not grammatically correct.

3.Go!” is the shortest grammatically correct sentence in English.

4.The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

5.About 4,000 words are added to the dictionary each year.

6.The two most common words in English are I and you.

7.11% of the entire English language is just the letter E.

8.The English language is said to be one of the happiest languages in the world – oh, and the word ‘happy’ is used 3 times more often than the word ‘sad’!

9.1/4 of the world’s population speaks at least some English.

10.The US doesn’t have an official language.

11.The shortest and oldest word in the English language is “I.”

12.The word “the” is the most commonly used English word overall, followed by “be,” “to,” “of,” “and,” “a,” “in,” “that,” “have,” and “I.”

13.The longest common word with no vowels is “rhythms.”

14.The most common adjective used in English is ‘good’.

15.The most commonly used noun is ‘time’.

16.The word ‘set’ has the highest number of definitions.

17.Month, orange, silver, and purple do not rhyme with any other word.

18.Though not commonly used, the day after tomorrow is called “overmorrow.”

19.Over 80% of the information stored on computers worldwide is in English.

20.Words that are used to fill in time when speaking, such as ‘like’ or ‘basically’, are called crutch words (and should best be avoided!)

21.English is the official language of 67 countries.

22.More people in the world have learned English as a second language than there are native English speakers.

23.90% of English text consists of just 1000 words.

24.There are 24 different dialects of English in the US.

25.The word ‘lol’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.

26.What is known as British accent came to use in and around London around the time of the American Revolution. (1775)

27.Shakespeare invented many words, such as birthplace, blushing, undress, torture and many more…

28.The word ‘Goodbye’ originally comes from an Old English phrase meaning ‘god be with you’.

29.Etymologically, Great Britain means ‘great land of the tattooed’.

30.There are seven ways to spell the sound ‘ee’ in English. This sentence contains all of them: ‘He believed Caesar could see people seizing the seas’.

31.Many English words have changed their meaning over time – for example, ‘awful’ used to mean ‘inspiring wonder’ and was a short version of ‘full of awe’, whereas ‘nice’ used to mean ‘silly

32.The first English dictionary was written in 1755.

33.The oldest English word that is still in use is ‘town’.

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so interesting! :>

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