# Johnson's Dictionary: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 5, Test 1, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 5, Test 1, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | D, E, G | illustrated their many meanings with some 114,000 quotations drawn from English writing on every subject, from the Elizabethans to his own time |
| 2 | D, E, G | Working to a deadline, he had to draw on the best of all previous dictionaries |
| 3 | D, E, G | as a living language, with many different shades of meaning |
| 4 | clerks | with a long desk running down the middle at which the copying clerks would work standing up |
| 5 | library | filling about eighty large notebooks (and without a library to hand) |
| 6 | stability | conferred stability on the language of his country |
| 7 | pension | prevail upon King George III to offer him a pension |
| 8 | TRUE | the rise of dictionaries is associated with the rise of the English middle class |
| 9 | FALSE | as famous in his own time as in ours |
| 10 | NOT GIVEN | Johnson signed the contract for the Dictionary with the bookseller Robert Dodsley |
| 11 | FALSE | Johnson decided he did not need an academy to settle arguments about language |
| 12 | FALSE | He was to be paid GBP 1,575 in instalments |
| 13 | TRUE | two of whom died whilst the Dictionary was still in preparation |

## Why these answers are right

**1. D, E, G.** One correct choice is D. Johnson illustrated meanings with some 114,000 quotations drawn from English writing up to his own time, and paragraph f says he treated English as a living language. That attention to English as it was really written supports D.

**2. D, E, G.** Another correct choice is E. The passage says Johnson was working to a deadline, which is a time limit for finishing the work. The same sentence says he had to draw on the best of all previous dictionaries, which rules out F, the claim that he ignored earlier work.

**3. D, E, G.** The third correct choice is G. Johnson treated English as a living language, with many different shades of meaning, and shades of meaning are subtleties of meaning. H fails because he did not expect complete originality, and B overstates a dictionary unrivaled for over a century.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/johnsons-dictionary/answers).

[Practice Johnson's Dictionary](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/johnsons-dictionary)