The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes, Volume 05 Miscellaneous Pieces

"The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes, Volume 05" by Samuel Johnson is a compilation of essays and discussions made in the 1700s. The collection focuses on Johnson's thoughts about language, particularly his huge project to create the English Dictionary, which would record and explain the changes in the English language. Johnson goes into detail about his dictionary plan at the beginning of the book. He talks about the challenges of defining words and deciding how they should be spelled, along with how culture can influence language over time. Johnson explains how hard it is to be accurate while also being easy to understand, he wanted the dictionary to be useful for both experts and regular folk. He shares clear rules for choosing words and how they should be used, showing that creating a dictionary is a difficult but important job for keeping the English language alive.