In this case, the rat ate the malt. — She stole something of mine, not my money. This sentence is the first one in the second chapter of The Ambassadors: “He had none the less to confess to this friend that evening that he knew almost nothing about … Then fill out the X and Y. Don't feel bad if you've been mispronouncing some of these tricky words. While this trick works for plenty of other sentences as well, this one’s short and easy to understand. And, for sure, we can’t say this even five times without stumbling over our words. Can you figure it out? The author of a 19th century grammar guide lamented the fact that one could "run to great excess" in the use of –ing participles "without violating any rule of our common grammars," and constructed this sentence to prove it. Another crazy center-embedded sentence. Reduced relative clauses let us say, "the speech given this morning" instead of "the speech that was given this morning" or, in this case "the horse raced past the barn" instead of "the horse that was raced past the barn.". You made the hardest choice. — Someone else said it. Groucho Marx; 2. 5> "Hugh Heffner is NOT the luckiest sonovabitch in the world." — Only that she stole money,  not necessarily my own. Another garden path sentence, this one depends on the fact that "complex," "houses," and "married" can serve as different parts of speech. The first possible combination asks if the Fresh Prince is going to take up forging armor as a hobby, while the second one affirms it. Sadly, I am not that sophisticated. The most difficult words to pronounce in the English language revealed – as well as the world’s favourite English tongue-twisters. Let’s be honest: This word is actually hard for native English-speaking Americans to pronounce too. This sentence, found in a 19th century grammar book, explores just how far we can take the versatile “ing” if we put our minds to it. • The fly swallowed by the old lady was caught by the spider caught by the cat. If you take the time to really dissect this sentence, it’s not as crazy as it initially appears: "This very superficial grammatist, supposing empty criticism about the adoption of proper phraseology to be a show of extraordinary erudition, was displaying, in spite of ridicule, a very boastful turgid argument concerning the correction of false syntax, and about the detection of false logic in debate." Reddit weighs in on the hardest words in the English language to pronounce. When you’re learning to read in English, it’s best to read just above your reading level. You read that sentence right—it reads “buffalo” eight times. Answer. Chomsky & Miller (1963); 6. These phrases are much harder to guess and can be used in spicing up your whisper challenge game. Next, let’s look at the main verb or doing word of the sentence - highlighted below. She can also be a fun, kooky aunt. But because of the sentence’s syntax, this is hard to decipher. — I didn't say it. 4. For this (completely true) sentence to make sense, try reading it like this: “Reed rhymes with leed, and red rhymes with led, but reed and led don’t rhyme, and neither do red and leed.”, It sounds like something a very drunk sailor might say, but this sentence actually isn’t missing a verb. But the more clauses we add in, the harder it gets to understand the sentence. Doug Bolton @DougieBolton. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. Make a sentence with multiple center embeddings. Tongue twisters, sentences that repeat similar sound patterns, are an excellent vehicle for this because trying to say them aloud forces you to pay attention to how you're speaking. 15. Noam Chomsky came up with this grammatically correct, but nonsensical sentence in order to prove that syntax and semantics are two very distinct things. It’s very hard to see the two sentences actually relate when reading them through a potentially wrong conjunction. Buffalo! It isn't even long, and Hemingway is a master of simple short sentences! It was written (not sure by whom) to demonstrate the weird spelling convention that English follows, and is incredibly difficult to read without practising it a lot in advance! Hard Whisper Challenge Phrases. This fascinating video uses this technique to show us how English sounds to people who don’t speak the language--- it sounds like it makes sense because the structure is the same as what we’re used to, but because the words would never be found in that order, we don’t understand what’s being said. The English language is incredibly confusing and undeniably complex. Hardest sentence examples. That cat had been chased by a dog. Ending a word with “ing” can make it a noun, verb, or adjective, depending on how you use it. Stylistically speaking, the sentence would probably be less confusing if written, “He had had a lot of faith, but it had had no effect on the outcome of his life,” but what fun is that? Difficult sentences for guys to say: 1> "I love you." No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. They can be very brief but very stubborn. To a non-native English speaker, “to chop down” and “to chop up” seem like they would be direct opposites (and might inspire some interesting mental images). Go ahead and check; they’re all there. 2> "Yes, please kick me square in the balls." It opens with an abstract concept that’s hard to imagine, something that’s hard to hold in your head while you read the rest of the sentence. Remember: just because a sentence is grammatically correct doesn’t mean it is acceptable stylistically. Is there a new breed of insect called a Time Fly that enjoys arrows? Reading very short sentences. For as long as I can remember, my anxiety dreams have tended to involve creepy houses (not haunted houses but houses where something is … A … 3> "I think I'm lost. 7 Sentences That Sound Crazy But Are Still Grammatical. A diamond is the hardest, most resilient, most beautiful gem of all. Those who really know the language are aware that chopping something down means to hack at it until it falls, while chopping it up means to cut it into smaller pieces. For example, if your friend tells you she is “literally rolling on the floor laughing,” you can figure out she’s using “literally” as an exaggeration. This fun sentence takes on seven different meanings depending on which word is emphasized: [I] never said she stole my money. From Goodreads - 'Novels that made you work the hardest. After that it was killed by a cat. This has made the rounds on the internet for a while now, but it’s still a fascinating look at how punctuation can completely change the meaning of a sentence. 1. I feel like this belongs somewhere in The Matrix. Context involves the other words in the sentence, and even the way a sentence is spoken. What makes a book a hard read for someone else wouldn't be the same for you, and vice-versa. — I only implied it. The modifier ‘in my pajamas’ is thought to mean that the subject was in his pjs when he shot an elephant, but when Groucho clarifies himself, we learn that the truth is actually even more bizarre. Ah, the magic of phrasal verbs. 5 Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo. — I considered it borrowed. As the story goes, a professor told his class to correctly punctuate the sentence. Bever (1970); 3. However, for a student it contains material of great value. You’d probably never hear these words spoken in this order in actual conversation, but all of the words are used correctly. The list is presented in chronological order: October 1991, Passage #3: Waterbugs. Let's not look at grammar as a cold, harsh mistress. But another possible, and perfectly grammatical, reading is. We all know the embarrassing feeling of discovering we've been mispronouncing a word for years. Start with "anyone who feels X is likely to agree." Here are some tricks you can do to make crazy sounding sentences that are still grammatical. Even if you don't know specific definitions of all the words, process of elimination can help you get down to one or two answer choices. Sources of sentences: 1. On the other hand, some words are so commonly mispronounced that the "correct" pronunciation sounds downright strange. 10 Reasons Why You're Dreaming About Your … B . Stare at it until you get the following meaning: "Bison from Buffalo, New York, who are intimidated by other bison in their community, also happen to intimidate other bison in their community.". While it may look like someone copied “had” and pressed the paste button a few too many times, this is actually an example of what happens when the past perfect tense gets used back-to-back. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. I’d like to tell you that the most difficult book I ever read was a Russian classic or Homer’s Iliad in Ancient Greek. Some are difficult because they require much thought. The style, not so good. Goold Brown (1851). 246,454 500 Goodreads "Best Ending/Best Final Chapter" 4,532 120 Some Great 20th Century Novels: A Personal Selection. Explanation. Take advantage of the fact that the same sentence can have two different structures. This means you read articles or books which are a little bit difficult for you. Then go to "anyone who feels if X then Y is likely to agree." The sentence contains twenty words, and although it’s a little confusing to read, if you take the time to analyze it, you’ll notice that it actually makes complete sense. 4. One trick is just to cover up the conjunction that’s been put there, and read the two sentences without it. One morning [I shot] [an elephant in my pajamas]. ... but which will make very dull reading for your contemporary. With apologies to Yusuf Islam, perhaps better known as Cat Stevens, a favourite singer/songwriter of mine, who penned the … The most difficult sentence completion questions on SAT Critical Reading will expect you to understand high-level vocabulary in both the sentence itself and the answer choices. It's a city! The first instance of ‘left’ and the second instance of ‘right’ indicate the location of the rocks. This is a completely grammatically correct sentence, and it makes a little more sense when you learn that ‘buffalo’ is not only an animal and a city in New York, but also a verb meaning ‘to bully or intimidate.’ If you still can’t wrap your brain around it, here’s an explanation: Buffalo buffalo (bison from Buffalo NY) [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo (that the bison from Buffalo NY bully) buffalo Buffalo buffalo (are bullying bison from Buffalo NY). This sentence takes advantage of the versatile English –ing. The last two sets of exercises lets kids have fun with reading riddles.. All worksheets are printable pdf files. This sentence plays off the fact that ‘saw’ is both a noun and the past tense of the verb ‘to see.’ It could mean that the hammer allowed the blind man to regain his eyesight, or that he uttered the phrase while picking up two tools. The horse raced past the barn fell. All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life. We've discussed the notorious buffalo sentence before, but it never stops being fun. Author and recreational linguist Dmitri Borgmann came up with this sentence, in which each word is exactly one letter longer than the one before it. 42. The headache you’re experiencing trying to figure this out is due to the presence of a reductive relative clause, which can be seen in sentences like, “The song heard on the radio was beautiful,” instead of, “The song that was heard on the radio was beautiful.” All we have to do to make this a little more simple is change the first part of the sentence: “The horse that was raced past the barn fell.”. Notice that to hard doesn’t make a comparison; to is a preposition , hard is an adjective, and times is a noun. I never said she stole my [money]. Make a garden path sentence. The grammar of the sentence is fine. and in sentence 3 why does it say a diary as a rule?confused MY GOODNESS HELP ~~~~~ THANKS A LOT . Below is the list of the 10 hardest LSAT Reading Comprehension passages of all time, accompanied by our at-times jesting commentary. However, that is also why English is the coolest and craziest language at the same time. Or does fruit have the ability to soar as bananas do? Just ask someone who is trying to learn the English language for the first time. ... Read More . William Rapaport; 7. The first narrator is mentally disabled to the extent that he cannot process linear time and jumps between past and present mid-sentence. Synonyms for difficult to read include illegible, unreadable, indecipherable, scrawled, unintelligible, scribbled, undecipherable, squiggly, crabbed and faint. Comprehension practice: Sentences & simple riddles. Well, I guess it’s just slightly less confusing. Difficult sentences for women to say: I used to offer the best students in my classes (when I … The first instance of ‘right’ means ‘correct,’ and the second instance of ‘left’ is talking about the rock that remains. It's rather hard to understand these sentences ,can you help me paraphase them. The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families. Now try reading these sentences, which all have the same meaning and increase in complexity: • The cat caught the spider that caught the fly the old lady swallowed. Here’s an example of a sentence that used to hard as part of a prepositional phrase: “Chalk it up to hard times and move on with your life,” advised Grandpa. Version 1. Learn to Read in English with Somewhat Challenging Texts. The males in the classroom wrote, “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women in the class wrote, “A woman: without her, man is nothing.” With just a simple change in punctuation, the entire meaning of the sentence was changed in an instant. Isn’t it confusing when one word has two different pronunciations? — I said someone did, not necessarily her. Some words and sentences will be challenging or unfamiliar, but you can still understand what the text is saying. But this is no ordinary poem! If you imagine a scenario in which you have a rock to either side of you, this sentence makes perfect sense. I had to read this one several times before I could get through the ripple effect of feelings. The letter combination “-ough” has nine possible pronunciations in English (depending on regional dialect), and this delightful sentence contains them all: “uff,” “oh,” “auh,” “ow,” “uh,” “oo,” “off,” and “uhp.” How’s that for a tongue-twister? 25 Extreme Cheapskates Who Tried to Cheat People and Got Destroyed, People Are Sharing Times They Experienced a “Glitch in the Matrix”, PETA Is Getting Roasted by This Seafood Restaurant, Here's How One Dog Became TikTok's Latest Trendsetter, Chloe Bailey Broke the Internet With Her Rendition of the Silhouette Challenge, People Who "Brag Post" Their COVID Vaccine Cards at Risk for Identity Theft, Harry Styles Has an Extensive Dating History, From Olivia Wilde to Taylor Swift. For example, “I lord You” instead of “I love you.” Here are some hard whisper challenge phrases and sentences: Easy Cheesy You don’t really appreciate little words like “who,” “which,” or “that” until you come across a sentence like this one. This was the first “hard science” passage ever to appear on the LSAT. Not only is this a great example of the wonderful crazy things you can do within the bounds of proper English, it's the perfect response to pull out the next time someone tries to criticize your grammar. 3. A few months ago, a speech study revealed the jumble of words that may just be the most tricky tongue twister ever: “Pad kid poured curd pulled cold.”. Wikipedia; 4. 64. Different Ending Sounds Worksheets Free printable different ending sounds worksheets for preschoolers, kindergarten kids, and 1st grade students. Anyone who has studied more than one language can attest that English is not the easiest to understand at times — and these strange sentences are proof that words can take on different meanings depending on simple things like commas, words with multiple meanings, and which word is emphasized. 3. The hardest phrases to guess are the ones that are obvious but with a little twist. If You've Read 10% of These Books You're Very Well Read. Worcestershire. You might need a pencil and paper. Why it's impossible for you not to read this sentence. Although the sentence in the example below is grammatically correct, it wanders through a series of loosely connected thoughts and makes its point somewhere in the middle. Hi!I was just a new reader of your website ma’am/sir.I appreciate the “50 difficult words to Pronounce” but I took it easy.I let it read unto my friends,and they say it was the hard to read for them.I really appreciate the words.I hope many children would read your website for them,to learn and help their vocubulary.Thank you. The Most Difficult Essay I Have Ever Read Which is one reason I have been away for so long. I never [said] she stole my money. 1. It plays on reduced relative clauses, different part-of-speech readings of the same word, and center embedding, all in the same sentence. 24. It doesn't seem so complicated once you realize it means, "This very superficial grammatist, supposing empty criticism about the adoption of proper phraseology to be a show of extraordinary erudition, was displaying, in spite of ridicule, a very boastful turgid argument concerning the correction of false syntax, and about the detection of false logic in debate.". With only six letters, “dilate” really shouldn’t be one of the hard words to spell, but the way people usually pronounce it can throw spellers for a loop. I never said she stole [my] money. This is a great example of how a sentence can completely change its meaning based on how we group the words together in our mind. It looks like it’s … #19: Dilate. It’s not just required luggage for surviving the weekend at the in-laws’ house--- this sentence contains every single letter of the alphabet, while using the smallest number of letters to do so. It's a noun! These worksheets give students practice in reading simple sentences, with plenty of assistance from images. We usually have no problem putting one clause inside another in English. I [never] said she stole my money. The hardest book I’ve ever read was House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. This fun sentence takes on seven different meanings depending on which word is emphasized: 2. Lets stop and ask for directions." The First Sentence is the Hardest. 2. I never said she [stole] my money. and is very simply just me reading a poem. Reading Short Sentences – Learn How to Read Download 15 free printable reading worksheets for preschoolers, kindergarten kids, and grade 1 students. Grammarly flags hard-to-read sentences like this, recommends breaking them into multiple sentences, and helps eliminate unnecessary words. The length of a sentence isn't what makes it hard to understand- it's how long you have to wait for a phrase to be completed. As it turns out, the famous actor and rapper’s name is made up of two verbs. The fun thing about this sentence is that “complex,” “houses,” and “married” can all serve as different parts of speech. A psychologist has offered an interesting explanation for why we're all brainwashed by words. This famous joke from Groucho Marx assumes that most people expect the structure of the first part to be. In this case, the word ‘man’ is a verb meaning to take one’s place for service, and ‘old’ is used to mean a collective group of old people. The first and third “hads” are the auxiliary verbs, while the second and fourth ones are the main verbs. I never said she stole my money. This collection of words is a simple one, but its sole purpose is to take you on a chronological journey of words while making you uncomfortably self-aware. Here, "complex" is a noun (a housing complex) instead of an adjective, "houses" is a verb instead of a noun, and "married" is an adjective instead of the past tense of a verb. Top 100 Most Difficult Novels show list info. One morning [I shot an elephant] [in my pajamas]. Verb/doing word of the sentence. The 20 Strangest Sentences in the English Language. We automatically tend to assume that “houses” is a noun, “complex” is an adjective, and “married” is a verb, but when you realize that “complex” is a housing complex and that soldiers who are married are staying there, things make a lot more sense. Chomsky & Miller (1963); 5. This video is entirely in English (I haven't done such a thing for a half a year!) In this one, we think we've reached the main verb when we get to "raced," but instead we are still inside a reduced relative clause. , and grade 1 students either side of you, this hardest sentence to read ’ s very to... 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