What's the longest sentence ever written?
Asked by: Gay Parisian | Last update: January 29, 2026Score: 4.9/5 (9 votes)
The longest single sentence in English literature belongs to Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club (2001), with a 13,955-word sentence, though many consider Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport (2019) to hold the true record for a modern novel, featuring a massive 426,100-word sentence that fills most of the book. Classic contenders include James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) (Molly Bloom's soliloquy) and William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! (1936) (1,288 words), but Coe and Ellmann far surpass them in length and ambition.
What is the longest sentence ever made?
He once said, “It was Faulkner at his most involuted and incantatory who most enchanted me.” The current record holder for the longest English sentence is Jonathan Coe for his staggering 33-page, 13,955-word sentence in The Rotter's Club, 2001. Though the record has been broken, Faulkner's legacy lives on.
How long was the longest sentence ever?
One of the most striking examples of an incredibly long sentence is the case of Chamoy Thipyaso, a Thai woman who, in 1989, was sentenced to an astounding 141,078 years for corporate fraud related to a pyramid scheme.
What is the world's largest paragraph?
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann is considered to be the world's longest paragraph, with a single sentence that is 426,100 words long.
What is the shortest sentence ever?
in english, the subject is implicit in the imperative case , so the shortest sentence is "go!"
Comparison: OLDEST People in the World History
What phrase has all 26 letters?
The best-known English pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". It has been used since at least the late 19th century and was used by Western Union to test Telex/TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability.
Can you say buffalo 8 times?
Usage. Thomas Tymoczko has pointed out that there is nothing special about eight "buffalos"; any sentence consisting solely of the word "buffalo" repeated any number of times is grammatically correct.
Is 7 sentences 2 paragraphs?
An average paragraph should be between 4 and 7 sentences long and should take up about 2/5 of the page (i.e. you should aim to have about 2 and a half paragraphs per page). This is an AVERAGE and so it will not matter if you occasionally have a slightly longer or shorter paragraph.
What is a run-on sentence?
A run-on sentence occurs when two independent clauses run together without proper punctuation or appropriate conjunctions. Incorrect: Helen cooked dinner therefore Ralph will wash the dishes. Correct: Helen cooked dinner; therefore, Ralph will wash the dishes. There are several ways to correct a run-on sentence.
What is the 13955 word sentence?
Jonathan Coe's 2001 novel The Rotters' Club has a sentence with 13,955 words. It was inspired by Bohumil Hrabal's Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age: a Czech language novel written in one long sentence.
Why is death row so long?
Death row takes so long primarily due to an extensive, multi-layered legal appeals process designed to prevent executing an innocent person, involving mandatory state and federal reviews to check for fair trials, proper legal application, and potential misconduct, alongside factors like overwhelmed public defenders, complex case investigations, and occasional drug shortages for lethal injections, with the average wait often stretching over a decade or more before execution, if it happens at all.
What is 25 years in jail called?
Individuals sentenced to LWOP are not eligible for parole and are expected to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Life With the Possibility of Parole: This sentence allows for the possibility of release after serving a minimum number of years, typically 25 years in California.
Who was the innocent man spent 40 years in jail?
Wrongfully imprisoned for more than 40 years, US man now faces deportation to India. After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was finally free. New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate.
What word has 645 meanings?
The English word with approximately 645 meanings, the most in the language, is "run," particularly for its verb form, as documented by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). This extensive definition count reflects its use as a versatile verb covering physical movement, managing operations, expressions like "run a fever," and many other contexts, showcasing English's flexibility.
What is longer, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis or hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters) is longer than Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters), with the former being a technical term for a lung disease and the latter ironically referring to the fear of long words. Both are among the longest words in English, but the 45-letter disease name holds the record for inclusion in major dictionaries, while the 36-letter fear of long words is often cited as the second longest.
What are the 4 types of sentences?
The four types of sentences according to function are declarative (statements), interrogative (questions), imperative (commands), and exclamatory (interjections and emotional statements).
What is a fused sentence?
A fused sentence is an ungrammatical sentence that contains two or more independent clauses not properly connected. Fused sentences are a type of run-on sentence, a long sentence that is difficult to read and confuses the reader.
How to break up sentences?
Try to divide sentences by replacing semicolons, conjunctions, and other clause joiners with periods. Identify dependent clauses and develop those ideas further in a separate sentence. Eliminate tangential information and nonessential parenthetical comments.
What is the 2 3 1 rule in writing?
The 2–3–1 writing method is a framework that provides a clear structure for organizing your thoughts and presenting them in a coherent manner. It consists of two main sections, followed by three supporting paragraphs, and finally, a concluding paragraph.
Is 71 words a paragraph?
Various educators teach rules governing the length of paragraphs. They may say that a paragraph should be 100 to 200 words long, or be no more than five or six sentences.
What is the shortest a paragraph can be?
There is no universal rule for paragraph length. While traditional academic guidance often suggests 5-8 sentences or 100-200 words, modern writing—especially digital content—tends toward shorter paragraphs of 2-4 sentences or 40-100 words. However, the "correct" length depends entirely on your: Audience.
What is the shortest sentence in the English language?
🤯 The shortest complete sentence in English is just TWO words: 'I am. ' 💡 But that's not all! Words like 'Go. ' and 'Run!