Question

. . . yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.

–Preface to A Dictionary of the English


Language,


Samuel Johnson


According to the passage, what distinguishes Johnson’s dictionary from others?


It was the first dictionary to be produced by a group of scholars at a university.


It was written almost single-handedly, with little financial or scholarly support.


It was written by an author who was both curious and learned.


It was the first dictionary to include definitions of simple, everyday words.

Answer 1

It was written almost single-handedly, with little financial or scholarly support.

Answer 2

It was written almost single-handedly, with little financial or scholarly support.

Different parts of the excerpt prove the other answers wrong. Option A says it was produced by scholars but it says that it "was written with little assistance of the learned". The learned are people who have an academic or scholarly background. This quote also eliminates option C because it says that the author was curious and learned. There's no indication that this is true. We also don't see any evidence of it being the first dictionary to include simple, everyday words. The line that shows little financial support is when it says, "without any patronage". This means that there were no people financially backing the efforts of this dictionary.