Did you know? 1&nbsp; &nbsp;The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.2&nbsp; &nbsp;If we place a comma before the word "and" at the e

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Richard-Business Eng

Insegnante professionista

Did you know?

1 The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.

2 If we place a comma before the word "and" at the end of a list, this is known as an "Oxford comma" or a "serial comma".

For example: "I drink coffee, tea, and wine."

3 Some words exist only in plural form, for example:

– glasses

– spectacles

– binoculars

– scissors

– shears

– tongs

– gallows

– trousers

– jeans

– pants

– panties

– clothes

– folk (cannot have one folk)

– shenanigans

– loggerheads

– cahoots

– smithereens

– thanks

– goggles

– riches

– jitters

– remains

– annals

– suds

– outskirts

4 Here are a few more. You try to guess what these always-plural words are.

Don’t list them in your comments because it will spoil the challenge for the others.

Click after the word to see the answer.

s _ o _ _ shoes

sl _ p _ _ rs slippers

ear_ _ _ _ s earrings

gl _ _ e _ gloves

co _ ten _ _ contents

a _ en _ s amends

py _ am _ s pyjamas

Well, how well did you do?

4 gen 2019 01:17

Commenti · 6

Hi Richard,

It seems that I am late to your test. I knew five of the words you listed.

4 gennaio 2019

"ALSO, rhythm(s) is the longest English word without any vowel."

"There may be another [one]: syzygy."

Don't forget crwth and cwm!

Whenever there is a syzygy, I like to hike to a nearby cwm and play ethereal music on my crwth... don't you?

4 gennaio 2019

Kaj Chieh Shih

Thank you for your good comments.

You are 100% correct about the word rhythm, but I was surprised to learn that there may be another word that meets the definition of being the longest English word without any vowel;

syzygy

noun: the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system

syz· y· gy | si-zə-jē |

4 gennaio 2019