A GOOD VOCABULARY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 813, 10 May 1910, Page 4

A GOOD VOCABULARY.

HOW MANY- WORDS DO YOU KNOW?.

' How large is your vocabulary? How many, different words can yon summon to mind and WTito in one hour, two hours, or five hours, with only your memory to guide you f Milton's vocabulary is said to have been 9000 Tfords; . Shakespeare's 15,000. 'It . has been estimated..that an illiterate person uses from 500 to 1000 words, ..and that a .welleducated person to-dpy . knows perhaps as many as 25,000, ana uses 15,000 to 20,000 in conversation. Even a person who cannot read may command 5000 words, according to writers. Yet,, only seven years ago, Professor William Swinton said that for the .ordinary English conversation of adults 4000 words is ,a liberal estimate. The "Century Dictionary" is said to contain about 225,000 words, and tho "Standard",'ilays claim to more than 300,000.. How :many of 'these words do you know? ■ ' Sitting one day with ; some a literary friends who wero discussing the vocabulary question (says Mr. Adam' Ilaselbar til), one of them inquired how many words I thought I knew. Bashly, andwith nothing definito on which ,to base such a conclusion, I made a wager that I could ..write 5000 different words in five hours. ~A howl, .of.. derision, greeted my. statement. That'fixed my determination to try it. I volunteered to go to" a desk, writ© for the prescribed period, trust only to my' memory and submit the-papers to them for decision without. counting the words myself. The afternoon of the next day was" appointed for tho .■- self-imposed ordeal. ' Armed with plenty of paper and pencils I retired, to my don. at 1. o clock ; p.m. From that time until 0 .p.m., with .'onlythree minutes' break for a , gljiss of water, I wrote words, words, words. As to how many X was writing I had 110 conception. At" tho end: of-each hour I tossed aside by themselves the result of the hour's work. ; ' . Tho physical results of the-strain were to me novel .and remarkable.. At the end of the first Aour my, brain throbbed and I felt feverish. At the , end -of' tho second 1.-.' whs - , mentally: and.- physically, weary, .and my right arm ached with adull'pain akin to that, of-.rheumatism. The-. conclusion 1 of tho' third hour found ; mo about, "all .in.' 1 I trembled, and just 'knew that.-1 looked- pale. l It;was then .'that I: paused-for a drink.:; My,.wife, obviously startled by. my appearance, remarked rather caustically, but not with-: .out' real concern —"I, think it . would be .wise to stop'.itiow. .What's , : ai-hat :cpm : pare.d;with a collapse."l ..smiled a wan -smile; i.andwmrtl back to tho;.job. ;. I- returned considerably,refreshed-to my-desk, and;;for the ,n6xt,,hour>wroto-.i-appaj:eßtly as rapidly as diiring 'the first.- p' 1 ..' When J entered-my ; . last hojfc I, was. certain 0f,.-victory,,,-''. T.ovioh: imagined.-I ..had already exceeded-5000.. words. '50..-I "pegged away, until tho ..last- tick, of the ■ 300 th miniito, giving, i]'whoop .of satisfaction .when-"all was "ov'erT

Tlie five bundles of sheets, each representing an -hour' 3 effort', were 'turned, over to onp. of my friends and .he eliminated, all duplicate words. -Tho noxt day lie approached mo with a'grin, and said:' "Weil, old man, you lost; but ,yon (lid so well .that, we'll'■ call tho bet off!"Hero! was the result:—First hour, 987. words; second hour, ~811;,. third, hour, GSt; .fonrtli.'.,hour, 775;. fifth,, hour, 713; total,' 0970. From theso' the ..'censor clim- • ina.ted:.':iS2 t; ,duplicates, leaving.'mo just 3818 different'words to .my crcdit.