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More activities
1 Dictate the following sentences, omitting the word in 
capital letters at the beginning of each sentence. Give 
students a couple of minutes to consider the statements. 
Then write the words in capital letters in alphabetical order 
on the board. Students complete the sentences.
a WIDOW is the only female form in the English 
language that is shorter than its corresponding male 
term.
b BOOKKEEPER is the only word in the English language 
with three consecutive sets of double letters.
c QUEUE is the only word in the English language which 
is still pronounced the same way when the last four 
letters are removed.
d ALMOST is the shortest word in the English language 
with all its letters in alphabetical order.
e SCREECHED is the longest one-syllable word in the 
English language
.
f RHYTHMS is the longest English word without any of 
the fi ve standard vowels.
PHOTOCOPIABLE
 
© Cambridge University Press 2008
B
English loan words
1 Before students do the exercise, ask them what they read 
about in the previous section (the widespread use of English 
as a foreign language, and the reasons for this). Get students 
to read the fi rst sentence of the text to answer the question.
2–4  Students can work through these exercises in pairs, giving 
feedback to the class after each exercise if appropriate.
5 Students could discuss more examples in pairs or small 
groups, and then share their examples with other pairs/
groups in a whole-class discussion.
6 Ask students if they think that the use of English loan words is 
a good or bad thing.
7 Students can discuss the question in pairs or small groups, 
and then share their ideas with other pairs/groups in a whole-
class discussion.