4 It is highly significant that the monosyllable, the c - word , and the f - word all take the definite article, the : they are as much proper names as the Himalayas and the Pope , immediately recognizable to the normal speaker of English despite the fact that, though there is only one set of Himalayas and (today) only one Pope, there are thousands of monosyllables and thousands of words beginning with c - and f -.
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