English Language FAQ

Vocabulary estimates vary according to criteria, e.g., whether derivatives are  included French and English differ fundamentally in grammar, structure, and syntax. Despite this incompatibility, English has a substantial percentage of French loanwords.

Contrary to common assumption, English is not Latinate. Latin does not underpin the structure of the English language in terms of its grammar or syntax.

Globish  in British ( Ɡləʊbɪʃ     )  noun

One letter is used more than any other in the English language - and by a surprising distance.

The ten most heavily used verbs in the English language are: 

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon  Milton Friedman.

Tycoon  is usually translated into English as "great lord".

Bailout  has become closely associated with the idea of financial rescue -  to bail out the Greece etc.   But the word has many subtle usages - and two spellings! 1.  bail/bale  is to abandon abruptly as in making an emergency exit from an aeroplane in a parachute.  2.  to bail out  is to remove water from a leaky boat. 3. It is now more common to use  bail   in a figurative/metaphorical sense: The minister has bailed on the government's housing policy ( announced his opposition) . The pilot bailed out The actor bailed on the script  (stopped reading his lines with any show of conviction)  4. 'Bail out' is also used metaphorically but usually with a closer connection to the literal meaning:  The pilot bailed out of his plane. 5. The noun is sometimes spelled as one word:  bailout. 6.   Bail or   bale  - the spelling is disputed but  bail  is probably used more fre...

English is a Germanic language, but its  lexicon ( vocabulary) has borrowed heavily from other languages. Most of these loanwords have arrived for specific historical reasons: most notably the invasions of the British Isles that occurred before the 13th Century   The Romans, for example, introduced words to describe the physical character of the country they were occupying:  street, wall , etc. Norman French legal terminology:  judge, jury, justice, court, bailiff, defendant, verdict , etc. Isn't English really a Latinate/Romance language then? No. Loanwords do not affect the structure of the English language. An English speaker may use the word  ballet,  but he will not say a  dancer of ballet ‚ as you would in French, Spanish, etc. A few imported terms retain their original syntax. The United Nations has a  secretary general,  while the chief officer of the English legal system is the  attorney general . But these are rare exceptions.

The 4th Earl of Sandwich  (1718--92) loved gambling. When he was playing cards he hated to leave the gaming table for meals. So he asked for a steak between two slices of bread. Ironically, eating sandwiches at your desk now symbolises dedication to work. And most casinos do not allow you to eat snacks when seated at their gaming tables. Alt meanings : You can sandwich something between two halves of anything. A Victorian Sandwich, for example, is a sponge cake filled with cream and jam. Other languages:  The word 'sandwich' is used in many languages  in a more way precise way than it is in English. In Spanish, for example, un sandwich uses thin white sliced bread as in the s andwich mixto right.  

  What makes a word beautiful? The marriage of form, function and sound? The meaning? The etymology?   Anyway, here is my list. OK - Alan Metcalf makes a strong case for what he calls 'America's greatest word'. He argues that OK encapsulates the American spirit of tolerance, enterprise, and practicality. Love - the word that features in the title of 12 Beatles songs ( All You Need Is- /Can’t Buy Me -/And I - You ). And 113 US Number One singles. Yes - Joyce describes this as the feminine word and has Molly Bloom end Ulysses with a resounding tribute to it: 'yes and his heart was going like mad, and yes I said yes I will Yes. "  Bewitched - beautiful sound, beautiful Rodgers & Hart song, magical idea. Would also enter ‘bothered’ and ‘bewildered but with only five  Twilight - vampire fans are banned from voting. Iridescent ( ir-i-DES-ent) - ‘brilliant, lustrous, colourful’ - what more could you ask from a word? Serendipity - the beauty of chance/fate Au...

There are no formal rules for writing SMS/texts. There are, however, some conventions.  Texts (SMS) often use short sentences break grammar & spelling rules contain neologisms use short forms including acroynms & abbreviations Are ‘text words’ easy to understand? SMS short-forms are usually easy to recognise. Most take the first letter of a word or each word in a phrase e.g OMG Some are already in general English (e.g. ASAP for ‘as soon as possible’.). Others follow the same rule AAMOF for "as a matter of fact" IMHO for "in my humble opinion," or PLMK for please let me know. Which short-forms are most confusing? Neologisms from common words or phrases. These are usually based on the sound e.g. B4 (before), NE (any). Some are invented e.g  W? (why). Some confusing short-forms AIGHT: Alright * GB: Goodbye * GL: Good luck * HV: Have * K or KK: Okay * M8: Mate * O\VA: Over * PEEPS/PPL: People * PLS: Please * PZ: Peace...

Before You Read  Which language has the most a) native or first language speakers? b) second language speakers? The English Language from ESL Reading Listening: English - the easy language?

Best summarised in this joke: you've got two chances fat and slim - and slim has just left town. In other words a slim chance is a remote possibility while fat chance means no chance at all. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang Green's Dictionary of Slang: Three-volume set

Why are some words so hard to spell?  My post for the OUP Global Blog  considers recent research into the twenty most misspelt words in English. The Birds and Bees of Words: A Guide to the Most Common Errors in Usage, Spelling, and Grammar Quick Solutions to Common Errors in English: An A-z Guide to Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (How to Books)

The word bailout has become closely associated with the idea of financial rescue -    to bail out the banks.  But it has many subtle usages - and two spellings! 1. The literal use of bail/bale is to abandon abruptly as in making an emergency exit from an aeroplane in a parachute.  2. The literal meaning of   to bail out  is to remove water from a leaky boat.  3. It is now more common to use bail   in a figurative/metaphorical sense: The minister has bailed on the government's housing policy ( announced his opposition) . The actor bailed on the script (stopped reading his lines with any show of conviction)  4. 'Bail out' is also used metaphorically but usually with a closer connection to the literal meaning: The pilot bailed out of his plane but not Bob has bailed out on us and gone home. 5. The noun is sometimes spelled as one word: bailout. 6. There is a dispute over the spelling of bail and bale - bail is probably used more f...

Because the OED tries to reflect the language as spoken and written. English is as Richard Lederer pointed out 'the most democratic language in history'.  To learn about the process by which words are selected see this interview with the OED editor. Oxford Dictionary of English Concise Oxford English Dictionary: 11th Edition Revised 2008 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: Sixth Edition

Depends what you mean by beautiful? Or ugly for that matter. This brave blog has attempted a list of 100 'beautiful and ugly words'. The writer suggests: One of the many fascinating features of our language is how often words with pleasant associations are also quite pleasing on the tongue and even to the eye, and how many words, by contrast, acoustically and visually corroborate their disagreeable nature All pretty subjective but interesting to see that there are far more 'beautiful' words on the list than 'ugly' ones. Full list here: