ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -First published in 1755, the dictionary took just over eight years to compile, required six helpers and listed 40, 000 words. Each word was defined in detail, the definitions illustrated with quotations covering every branch of learning.

Detailed explanation-2: -Johnson’s great contribution to the history of English lexicography was to conceive the dictionary, not as a schoolroom prop, but as a type of literary work. Johnson wrote only one dictionary, but in that one he initiated several dictionary genres.

Detailed explanation-3: -After annotating some books, Johnson would pass these to the amanuenses who would work in pairs on one book at a time. They would then copy the underlined word on to a sheet of paper that had been folded into quarto sections and divided by a pencil line into two columns.

Detailed explanation-4: -Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire. The son of a bookseller, he rose to become one of the greatest literary figures of the eighteenth century, most famously compiling A Dictionary of the English Language.