Johnson's dictionary IELTS reading answers

Find the Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading answers given below for your reference. Compare and check your answers to correct your errors.

To improve your knowledge about the reading module you can try other question types as well. If you are wishing to practice more, try to answer the different question types based on the passage given here

You can find the reading passage, three different question types, and Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading answers in this article. Practice the given exercise thoroughly and improve the skills tested in the actual IELTS reading test.

Johnson’s dictionary is the passage that is the most asked one in the IELTS reading papers. By knowing the importance, we’ve included the full passage and three important question types with Johnson’s dictionary reading answers in this blog. You can also refer to the other question types by clicking here, IELTS reading question types. 

• IELTS Reading Summary Completion
• IELTS Reading True/false/not given
• IELTS Reading Matching Sentence Endings

8 thoughts on “Johnson's dictionary” passage importance

These are a few key reasons to choose the “Johnson dictionary” passage when creating the IELTS exam paper. 

• This passage is presented in the IELTS reading test paper to assess your variety of reading skills like reading, grasping the main idea, recognition of synonyms, paraphrasing, keywords, etc.
• This passage will be given with three or four different question types in your IELTS reading test as we’ve given in this blog.
• We’ve included the “ Johnson’s dictionary” passage in this blog with the three different questions to help you to boost your knowledge and confidence level.
• Johnson’s dictionary reading answers with location and explanation given in this article for your reference. This will really help you to crack your questions in the final IELTS reading test. 
• The major reason for choosing this passage for the IELTS exams is because it has the ability to test many necessary skills like language, vocabulary, grammar, and so on.
• Johnson’s dictionary reading answers with location needs more focus on answering each and every question type.
• This passage is considered to be harder as it has keywords, synonyms, and paraphrasing identification difficulties while answering the questions. This is one of the main reasons that examiners always go for this passage.  
• Johnson's dictionary passage is taken from the Cambridge 5, Test 1 reading answers.

Do not skip this Johnson’s dictionary passage as it is the often asked one in the IELTS reading exams.

Before attempting to write the Johnson's dictionary IELTS reading answers, check the IELTS reading tips

Find Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading answers practice test pdf.

IELTS reading passage - “Johnson's dictionary”

Read the below given passage carefully to answer the different types of questions (1 - 13). Write your answers based on the given Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading passage and verify your answers instantly

Johnson's dictionary

The "Johnson Dictionary" was published in 1775, the century before. There was consideration about the quality of the English language. There is no typical way to speak or write and there is no deal on the best way to bring some order to the confusion of English spelling. Dr. Johnson provided the solution. In the past, of course, there have been dictionaries, the first of which was a small book of about 120 pages, collected by a particular Robert Cawdray and published in 1604 under the title A Table Alphabet! Hard regular English words. Similar to the different dictionaries that came after it in the seventeenth century, Cowdrey also sought to focus on the words 'scholar', a function of which is to convey to its student a better sense of learning.

Beyond the practical need to create order out of confusion, the rise of dictionaries was associated with the rise of the English middle class, who defined different worlds and were eager to capture vocabulary and social and business. It is fitting that Dr. Samuel Johnson, a model of the eighteenth-century literary figure as famous as he was in our time, published his dictionary at the very start of the heyday of the middle class.

Johnson was a poet and critic who elevated public knowledge to the pinnacle of genius. His strategy to the problems that plagued writers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was an intense practice. Until his time, without the establishment of an academy, the mission of creating such a large-scale dictionary seemed unthinkable, and he wrote that it did not require an academy to settle arguments about the Johnson language to make decisions about right and wrong use. A dictionary itself, he will do it with one hand. On June 18, 1764, Johnson signed a dictionary agreement with Robert Dosley, a bookseller, for breakfast at the Golden Anchor Hotel near Holbom Bar. He was to spend 1.575 in installments, from which he rented 17 Gough Square, in which he arranged his 'dictionary workshop'. 

James Boswell, his biographer, told the garret on which Johnson worked as 'fitted like a counting house', with a lengthy desk operating in the middle at which the copying clerks would work standing up. Johnson was in a bitter chair at an 'old crazy deal table', surrounded by a mess of borrowed books. He was assisted by six assistants, two of whom died while preparing the dictionary.

The task of filling about eighty large notebooks is enormous. Johnson wrote definitions of more than 40,000 words and explained their various meanings with 14.000 quotations taken from the English alphabet in each subject from Elizabeth to his time. He did not wish to reach full originality. Working within a time frame, he had to draw the best of all previous dictionaries and turn his work into a courageous collection. In fact, it was too much. Unlike his predecessors, Johnson treated English as a very practical, living language, with many various meanings. He accepted his definitions in the policy of English public law by example. After its publication, his dictionary did not compete vigorously for more than a century.

After many difficulties, the dictionary was ultimately published on 15 April 1775. It was immediately admitted as a symbol throughout Europe. This is a very classic task. The author of the leading Italian dictionary wrote, 'It will be a lasting memorial to the author, especially a tribute to his own country, and a known advantage to the Republic of Letters throughout Europe.' The fact that Johnson took the academies of Europe and fitted them in (it took forty years for forty French scholars to create the first French national dictionary) was the reason for the English celebration.

Johnson worked for nine years. 'With little help from the learned, and without the support of the elders, not in the gentle gloom of retirement or in the shelter of the learned, but in the midst of trouble and distraction, in sickness and sorrow'. For all its flaws and peculiarities, his two-volume work is a masterpiece and a symbol, in his own words, 'setting letters, showing analogy, arranging structures and identifying the identities of English words'. It is the cornerstone of standard English, an accomplishment that, in the words of James Boswell, 'gave strength to the language of his country'. The dictionary, along with his other writings, made Johnson famous and his friends were able to win over George III to retire him. Since then, he has been a Johnson of folk tales.

Johnson's dictionary reading answers questions

Question (1-5)

Complete the summary below. 

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Earlier dictionaries were small books of about 1 _________ pages. And it was published in 1604 under the title 2 ________________. Different dictionaries that came after it in the 3 ______________ century, The rise of dictionaries was associated with the rise of the 4 _____________ middle class. Dr. Samuel published his 5 _______________ at the very start of the heyday of the middle class.

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Question (6 - 9)

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage?

Write

TRUE            -   if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE          -   if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN  -   if there is no information on this in the passage

6. Johnson’s strategy to the problems that plagued writers in the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries.

7. The mission of creating such a large-scale dictionary seemed impossible, until Johnson's time.

8. Johnson thought about completing his dictionary for many years.

9. Johnson was assisted by six assistants, two of whom died while preparing the dictionary.

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Question (10 - 13)

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–G, below.

Write the correct letter, A-G, as your answer to each question. 

10. Johnson had to draw the best of all previous dictionaries and turn his work

11. Johnson treated English as a very practical, living language, 

12. The fact that Johnson took the academies of Europe and fitted them in, was the 

13. The dictionary, along with his other writings,

• made Johnson famous
• into a courageous collection
• arranging structures
• reason for the English celebration
• very classic task
• with many various meanings
•  without the support of the elders

Click to know more about IELTS reading matching sentence endings

Johnson's dictionary reading answers with explanations

Compare and check your answers with Johnson’s dictionary reading answers key provided below.

(Note: The text in italics is from the reading passage and shows the location from where the answer is taken or inferred. The text in the regular font explains the answer in detail.)

1. 120

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - In the past, of course, there have been dictionaries, the first of which was a small book of about 120 pages,... 

2. A Table Alphabet 

Explanation: Paragraph 1 -  In the past, of course, there have been dictionaries, the first of which was a small book of about 120 pages, collected by a particular Robert Cawdray and published in 1604 under the title A Table Alphabet! 

3. seventeenth 

Explanation: Paragraph 1 - Similar to the different dictionaries that came after it in the seventeenth century, Cowdrey also sought to focus on the words 'scholar', a function of which is to convey to its student a better sense of learning.

4. English 

Explanation: Paragraph 2 - Beyond the practical need to create order out of confusion, the rise of dictionaries was associated with the rise of the English middle class, who defined different worlds and were eager to capture vocabulary and social and business. 

5. dictionary

Explanation: Paragraph 2 -  It is fitting that Dr. Samuel Johnson, a model of the eighteenth-century literary figure as famous as he was in our time, published his dictionary at the very start of the heyday of the middle class.

6. Fals

Explanation: Paragraph 3 -  His strategy to the problems that plagued writers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was an intense practice. 

7. True 

Explanation: Paragraph 3 -   Until his time, without the establishment of an academy, the mission of creating such a large-scale dictionary seemed unthinkable,...

8. Not given

Explanation: The particular information is not spoken by the author.

9. True

Explanation: Paragraph 4 - Johnson was in a bitter chair at an 'old crazy deal table', surrounded by a mess of borrowed books. He was assisted by six assistants, two of whom died while preparing the dictionary.

10. B

Explanation: Paragraph 5 -  Working within a time frame, he had to draw the best of all previous dictionaries and turn his work into a courageous collection.

11. F 

Explanation: Paragraph 5 -  Unlike his predecessors, Johnson treated English as a very practical, living language, with many various meanings.

12. D

Explanation: Paragraph 6 -  The fact that Johnson took the academies of Europe and fitted them in (it took forty years for forty French scholars to create the first French national dictionary) was the reason for the English celebration.

13. F 

Explanation: Paragraph 7 -  The dictionary, along with his other writings, made Johnson famous and his friends were able to win over George III to retire him. Since then, he has been a Johnson of folk tales.

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Conclusion

Recognize the “Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading answers” passage importance and start practicing the exercise given in this blog. This will enhance your confidence level in attempting the actual IELTS reading test.