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OF M-BER] * UNlVERSin TEACHER'S WORD BOOK OF 30,000 WORDS THORNDIKE & LORGE Qx 1IBBK wmbsibios numamis Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from University of Alberta Libraries https://archive.org/details/teacherswordbook00thor_0 THE TEACHER’S WORD BOOK OF 30,000 WORDS By EDWARD L. THORNDIKE and IRVING LORGE BUREAU OF PUBLICATIONS TEACHERS COLLEGE • COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1944, BY TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SECOND PRINTING, 1952 PREFACE This book is a greatly improved extension sary because the recorders of the magazine of the Thorndike Teacher's Word Book, pub¬ count began all words with capital letters, lished in 1921, and of the extension of it to and because the recorders of the semantic include 20,000 words published in 1931. It count did not record contractions like isn't, includes the data of these two counts and and did not separate different forms of words also of three other counts of over million like he, come, and do, and because the count words each. It enables a teacher to know not of juvenile books did not include the top only the general importance of each word so 2,500 of the Thorndike general count. The far as frequency of occurrence measures that, original Thorndike count failed to record but also its importance in current popular abbreviations adequately, and it is likely the reading for adults, as shown by the Lorge recorders in the other counts skipped many. magazine count, and its importance in such This book is not final as a frequency count juvenile reading as schools and libraries of English reading. New words will become approve. important. Scientific and other erudite read¬ This extension would not have been pos¬ ing matter deserves a separate column, sible except for the work of Dr. Irving Lorge though it has its fair proportion of weight in on the Lorge-Thomdike semantic count and the original Thorndike count and in the se¬ the Lorge magazine count, and for his gener¬ mantic count. A column for the vocabulary osity in permitting me to use the results. I of modem fiction, or for new war terms, have also had the benefit of his advice on the might be useful. It will be easy for future general plan. But he is not responsible for workers to extend and amend this book by the execution of it, or for any errors in the adding counts of 234> or 4^, or 6%, or 9 copying of records or the computations. Cer¬ million words of any sort. tain exercises of judgment have been neces¬ Edward L. Thorndike We acknowledge the generous aid of the without which the semantic count and the Rockefeller Foundation and of the W.P.A. magazine count could not have been made. February, 1943 the UHlVEHsm l Li«WBV CF ^ 0f ALBERTA