Johnson's dictionary reading answers - Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1

Find the Johnson’s dictionary reading answers- Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1 given below for your reference. Compare and check your answers to correct your errors.

Solution for Johnson’s dictionary

1. D	5.library	9. False	13. True
2. E	6. stability	10.Not given
3. G	7. pension	11. False
4. Clerks or copying clerks	8. True	12. False

To improve your knowledge about the IELTS academic reading module, try other question types given here. If you are wishing to practice more, attempt the three different question types based on the IELTS reading passage given here.

In this Academic IELTS Reading article, You can find the reading passage, three different question types, and Johnson’s dictionary reading answers. As an IELTS candidate, you should practise more, instead of just checking the solutions. So, Practice the given exercise thoroughly and improve the skills tested in the actual IELTS reading test.

Johnson’s dictionary Cambridge IELTS reading passage is the most asked one in the IELTS academic reading test papers. By knowing the importance, we’ve included the full passage and three important IELTS academic reading 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

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10 thoughts on “Johnson's dictionary” passage importance

These are a few key reasons to choose the Johnson dictionary passage which you can find in Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1, when creating the IELTS exam paper. 

• This Johnson’s dictionary 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.
  Johnson’s dictionary contains about solution provided by Dr. Johnson for the confusion with English spelling. 
• Johnson’s dictionary 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 passage 1
  You can also get the johnson’s dictionary reading pdf to use it for your IELTS preparation

Do not skip this Johnson’s dictionary passage, Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1, as it is the often asked one in the IELTS reading exams.

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Johnson's dictionary reading passage - Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1

Read the below Johnson’s dictionary reading passage carefully to answer the different types of questions (1 - 13). Write your solutions based on the given and verify your johnson’s dictionary reading 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 (1-3)

Complete the summary below. 

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS on your answer sheet 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,

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Question (4 - 7)

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

Write any one of the below option on your answer sheet

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

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

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

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

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

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Question (8 - 13)

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

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

8. Johnson was a poet and critic who elevated public knowledge 

9.  Johnson wrote that it did not require an academy to settle arguments about the Johnson language to 

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,

1. made Johnson famous
2. into a courageous collection
3. arranging structures
4. reason for the English celebration
5. make decisions about right and wrong use
6. with many various meanings
7. to the pinnacle of genius

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Johnson's dictionary reading answers with explanations

Compare and check your solutions with Johnson’s dictionary reading answers with an explanation 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.)

Questions (1 - 3) (IELTS Reading Summary Completion) 

Q1 - Earlier dictionaries were small books of about 1 _________ pages. 

Solution for Q1. 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,... , 

Keywords - small book, pages

Keyword location - Paragraph 1, line 4

Q2 -  And it was published in 1604 under the title 2 ________________. 

Solution for Q2. 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! 

Keywords - published, 1604

Keyword location - Paragraph 1, line 6

Q3 - Different dictionaries that came after it in the 3 ______________ century,

Solution for Q3. 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.

Keywords - different dictionaries, century

Keyword location - Paragraph 1, line 7

Questions (4 - 7) (IELTS Reading True/False/Not given)

Q4 -  Johnson’s strategy to the problems that plagued writers in the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Solution for Q4. False 

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

Keywords - plagued writers. strategy

Keyword location - Paragraph 3, line 2

Q5 -  The mission of creating such a large-scale dictionary seemed impossible, until Johnson's time.

Solution for Q5. True 

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

Keywords - mission, large scale

Keyword location - Paragraph 3, line 2

Q6 - Johnson thought about completing his dictionary for many years.

Solution for Q6 - Not given 

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

Q7 -  Johnson was assisted by six assistants, two of whom died while preparing the dictionary.

Solution for Q7 - 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.

Keywords - six assistants, died

Keyword location - Paragraph 4, line 4

Questions (8 - 13) (IELTS Reading Matching sentence endings) 

Q8 - Johnson was a poet and critic who elevated public knowledge 

Solution for Q8. G - to the pinnacle of genius 

Explanation: Paragraph 3 -  Johnson was a poet and critic who elevated public knowledge to the pinnacle of genius. 

Keywords - poet, critic, elevated public knowledge

Keyword location - Paragraph 3, line 1

Q9 -  Johnson wrote that it did not require an academy to settle arguments about the Johnson language to

Solution for Q8. E - make decisions about right and wrong use 

Explanation: Paragraph 3 -  … 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. 

Keywords - settle arguments, academy

Keyword location - Paragraph 3, line 4

Q10 - Johnson had to draw the best of all previous dictionaries and turn his work

Solution for Q10. B - into a courageous collection 

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.

Keywords - previous dictionaries, work

Keyword location - Paragraph 5, line 4

Q11 - Johnson treated English as a very practical, living language, 

Solution for Q11. F - with many various meanings 

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

Keywords - English, living language

Keyword location - Paragraph 5, line 6

Q12 - The fact that Johnson took the academies of Europe and fitted them in, was the 

Solution for Q12. D - reason for the English celebration 

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.

Keywords - academics, europe

Keyword location - Paragraph 6, line 5

Q13 - The dictionary, along with his other writings,

Solution for Q13. A - made Johnson famous 

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.

Keywords - dictionary, other writing

Keyword location - last paragraph, last three lines

Check the other reading passages 

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• Cork Reading Answers
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Conclusion

The “Johnson’s dictionary IELTS reading answers”  given here to recognize your strength and weakness. Practice the Johnshon’s dictionary reading passage, Cambridge 5 Test 1 Reading passage 1, given in this blog to enhance your confidence level in attempting the actual IELTS reading test.