English will become more fun! A collection of trivia and fun facts about the English language.
In today’s global community, English has become indispensable, hasn’t it?
It’s now included as a subject in elementary schools, and many people begin studying English in earnest as adults.
In this article, we’ll introduce various trivia and fun facts about English.
Studying English can be tough, but learning about it from a slightly different angle—through trivia and fun facts—can make your studies even more enjoyable!
Feel free to use this as a little breather during your English study sessions!
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Make English Even More Fun! A Collection of Trivia & Fun Facts About English (11–20)
“Ze” and “hir” are pronouns that can be used regardless of gender.
In recent years, efforts to respect diversity have become more active, and accordingly, opportunities to use gender-neutral pronouns have increased.
With that in mind, it’s good to be familiar with “ze” and “hir.” However, they aren’t always used with a strictly gender-neutral meaning, so it’s important to infer the intended meaning from the flow of the conversation.
Additionally, other gender-neutral pronouns are also becoming more widespread, so if you’re interested, try looking them up.
The dots on “i” and “j” are called a “tittle” or a “superscript dot.”
The letters i and j have dots, right? That dot is called a “tittle” or a “superscript dot.” It probably won’t come in handy very often in everyday life, but do try to remember it.
By the way, there’s a phrase “to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.” Literally, it means putting the dots on the i’s and drawing the crossbars on the t’s, and it conveys the idea of putting the finishing touches on something.
The most frequently used letter in English words is ‘E.’
Which letter do you think is used most often in English words? It’s E.
E is frequently used as a vowel, and many of you have probably noticed that longer words often contain multiple Es.
Incidentally, the next most common is A.
And the letter most commonly used at the beginning of words is S.
Indeed, I remember the S section of English dictionaries being quite large.
Keeping things like this in mind as you read English sentences can make you think, “I see!”
A sentence that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a “pangram.”
Do you know what a pangram is? A pangram is a single sentence that uses every letter in a given language.
You can use the same letter multiple times, but shorter ones tend to be rated more highly.
Many people have attempted English pangrams over the years, but they often end up sounding unnatural as sentences, and a perfect pangram hasn’t been created.
Give it a try yourself! Or you could tackle it in Japanese—though the larger set of characters will likely make it more difficult.
It’s possible for a sentence to be grammatically valid even if the word “that” appears seven times in a row.
“That” is a word that can mean “that,” “it,” or “that person,” right? Did you know there’s a sentence that uses “that” seven times? In fact, there’s a test question about English that goes: “I think that that that that student used in that, not this is not that proper.” Did you understand what it’s trying to say? It’s a bit tricky, but if you have some time, I’d like you to try solving it.
In conclusion
We shared some trivia and fun facts about English—what did you think? There were lots of interesting stories, weren’t there? When you study English, it might be nice to chat with people in English and say, “Did you know this kind of trivia?” I hope the trivia and tidbits we introduced have sparked even more interest and curiosity about English.