节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-06-21
难易度:Medium
关键字:dialect, fascinating, intrigue, queue, living language
Welcome back, everybody.
I hope you had a great break.
Now do you know that in English there aren't any words that rhyme with the words
"orange, silver or purple"?
That's why you don't see those words too often in songs.
And do you know which one word begins and ends with the same three letters
"u-n-d"?
I'll tell you after we look at a few more fascinating facts about the English
language at the top of the right-hand column.
Fun Language Facts.
Go is the shortest complete sentence in the language.
The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in
the alphabet.
The word set has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
Queue is the only word in the English language that is pronounced the same even
if the last four letters are removed.
The most commonly used letter in English is "e." The least commonly used letter
is "q.".
So we're talking about fascinating language facts, very intriguing language
facts.
Now right before the break, we said we had intriguing facts, which means you
came back because you're so curious to find out.
Exactly.
Remember that word "intrigue" means it's very interesting because you don't know
much about it.
Well, now is your chance because we're going to start telling you some very
interesting English facts.
That's right.
Now we have a whole list to go through.
So let's get started with our first one.
OK. The first interesting English fact is that the word go is the shortest
complete sentence in the English language.
Whoa, that is a very short sentence.
Go.
That's all of it together, right?
That's a complete sentence.
That is a complete sentence.
Go. Period.
That counts as a complete English sentence.
And it's only two letters.
I... I was trying to think: Could I come up with another one like that?
But the only one I could come up with was "stop, or no." And they are still too
long.
Exactly, exactly.
And so this word, it's a command.
You can use to tell someone if you want them to leave or do something.
Go. And that is a complete, or a whole, sentence.
It's pretty cool.
I didn't know that about English.
Well, Ryan, what's our next fact?
All right.
The next fact is that this sentence - The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog - that sentence uses every letter in the English alphabet.
Wow! In... I... I thought maybe that wasn't true.
But then I sat and looked at the sentence just long enough, and you can find
them.
A, b, c... all the way to the z, there's at least one use of every letter.
Now I don't think we'd use the sentence very often, though, Ryan.
Not very often. But it is an actual sentence.
It is grammatically correct, and it makes a little bit of sense.
And it's true; every letter is in that sentence.
I was trying to think: OK, "q"? OK, it's in "quick." What about "x"? Fox.
What about "z"? Lazy.
It's impressive! Every letter is there.
That's right.
It's really cool to see something like this.
Even though you probably never say it, it's interesting to know English has an
opportunity to use every letter in a... in a coherent sentence.
Yeah. And that's probably the shortest sentence that you could fit every letter
in too; very impressive.
Well, our next one is: The word set has more definitions than any other word in
the English language.
OK. So now we're talking about definitions, what a word means.
And so the word set has more of these, more meanings in English than any other
English words.
I'm not sure how many.
But can you think of any definitions for the word set?
Hmm, I probably won't be able to come up with all of them.
But I think of set when you go set something down; a movie set.
Yeah. There can be a group of something that is a set.
Or you can get set.
That means to get ready.
Oh, my goodness! There's four already.
You're good.
It's very impressive.
There are a lot of definitions for that word, more than any other English word.
Now friends, why don't you try to come up with as many definitions of the word
set that you can,
and then write us an e-mail at letters@StudioClassroom.com to see what you found
out about the word set.
Do you think this fact is really true?
Yeah. If you think you can list all of the definitions, let us know.
We'd like to see what you know.
That's right. It would be fun to compare.
We can also compare on our Facebook page.
Maybe we should have a challenge to see how many set definitions we can come up
with.
Yeah. Well, I know some of you might just go find a dictionary, so maybe we can
do that.
That... that's true.
OK, so. What is our next fun English fact?
Our next one is about the word queue.
Now first, Ryan, we need to define what a queue is.
OK. A "queue" is a line of people that are waiting for something.
You have probably waited in a queue before.
That means maybe it's a line of people waiting for a movie or waiting to go into
a restaurant.
That's right.
Usually in American English, we say we wait in line, or we need to line up to go
somewhere.
But in British English, you say you queue up to go somewhere.
Exactly. That's how you use that as a verb.
And now, of course, as a noun, that is the line of people waiting.
So if you have waited in line, I'm sure you have - all around the world, people
now wait in lines,
it's more polite than just rushing somewhere - then you have waited in a queue.
OK. Well, that word we know what it means now.
The interesting fact about it is that it's the only English... it's the only
word in the English language that is pronounced the same if you remove the last
four letters.
So you can take the u-e-u-e off of it, and it still says Q.
Oh, OK. So of course it sounds the same because it's just the letter Q.
And so this word sounds the same even though you add "q-u-e-u-e" to it and make
it really long, it's just pronounced like the first letter.
That's right.
But this... that would not make it the word queue meaning "line" anymore.
Just keep that in mind.
Yeah. It wouldn't have the same meaning, but it does have the same sound.
Now our 5th fact on our list now is the most commonly used letter in English is
the letter "e." And the least commonly used later is the letter: q.
OK. So if ever you're playing any games in English where you need to guess
letters, start with "e." That's the most common.
All right.
Well, we've learned a lot of interesting facts.
But join us tomorrow after we visit the Chat Room.
Hey, Bryan, what you're looking at?
Oh. Hi, Ken.
I'm just trying to find a new video camera for my nephew.
He really has his heart set on getting one for his birthday.
What do you mean he has his heart set on getting one?
Is that an idiom?
Yes, it is.
It's just a way of saying he really wants one.
When you have your heart set on doing something, that means you have a strong
desire to do it.
So could I also say that my brother has his heart set on moving to New York?
Sure. That would mean that he wants to move there but not necessarily that he is
planning on moving there soon.
So why does your nephew have his heart set on getting a video camera?
Well, he wants to be a movie director, and he'd like to start practicing by
making videos.
Cool! That sounds like an interesting career choice.
I think he'll really enjoy it.
And if he's successful with even one movie, he'll be set for life.
Set for life?
What does that mean?
Well, when someone has everything they need, you can say they're all set.
I've heard that phrase before.
Sometimes people say, "No, thanks. I'm all set," when someone offers them food.
Right.
I could also say that once I buy my nephew's present, I'll be all set for his
party.
So is being set for life similar to being all set?
Yes, it is.
It means you have enough money to live comfortably the rest of your life.
That makes sense.
And I really hope your nephew likes the camera.
Yeah, so do I.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.