Directions:
Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can
only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
|
A. classify B. contains C. detailed D. maintains E. multiply F. necessarily G. passive H. relatively I. subject J. total
K. unusual
|
Can a
precise word total ever be known? No, says Professor David Crystal, known
chiefly for his research in English language studies and author of around 100
books on the {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. "It's like asking how many stars there are in the
sky. It's impossible to answer," he said.
An
easier question to answer, he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, is the size of the average person's
vocabulary. He suggests taking a sample of about 20 or 30 pages from a
medium-sized dictionary, which {#blank#}3{#/blank#} about 100,000 entries or 1,000 or 1,500
pages.
Tick off
the ones you know and count them. Then {#blank#}4{#/blank#} that by the number of pages and
you will discover how many words you know. Most people vastly underestimate
their {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.
"Most
people know half the words—about 50,000—easily. A reasonably educated person
about 75,000 and a really cool, smart person well, maybe all of them but that
is rather {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. An ordinary person, one who has not been to university say,
would know about 35,000 quite easily."
The
formula can be used to calculate the number of words a person uses, but a
person's active language will always be less than their {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, the
difference being about a third.
Prof
Crystal says exposure to reading will obviously expand a person's vocabulary
but the level of a person's education does not {#blank#}8{#/blank#} decide things. "A
person with a poor education perhaps may not be able to read or read much, but
they will know words and may have a very {#blank#}9{#/blank#} vocabulary about pop songs or
motorbikes. I've met children that you could {#blank#}10{#/blank#} as having a poor
education and they knew hundreds of words about skateboards that you won't find
in a dictionary."
