How Many Words Do We Speak in A Lifetime? | English Language

How Many Words do We Speak in A Lifetime?

Many people estimate that there are more than one million words in English. In fact, during a project by researchers at Harvard University and Google in 2010 to look up the words in a digitized book, they estimated a total of 1,022,000 words, and this number would increase by several thousand each year. When you see such a huge number, though, it is important to remember that it includes different forms of the same word. It contains a lot of words that we can call ancient (these are not used in modern English).

In the second (2nd) edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, about 600,000 word forms are defined. Again, this includes many old-fashioned words that are no longer in common use. The dictionary is expanded every year to keep pace with new words invented to describe the world around us or to add new meanings to existing words in English. A more useful number from the Oxford English Dictionary would be 171,476 words that are currently in use. This means that examples of each of these words are being used recently.

How Many Words Do You Know?

In learning a language, not all words are equal. Learning certain types of words will accelerate your progress faster than learning other types of words. To be most effective at learning a language, focus on the most common words in that language before you begin studying more specialized sets of vocabulary. And instead of trying to memorize each definition, learn the most common definitions first.

The Pareto principle, which says 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the reasons, applies in a general way to learning a new language. That is, if you start by spending your time learning what you can use now, you will improve faster. Instead, if you try to read a dictionary from cover to cover to learn every word and every definition in the language, many of your efforts will be at best in vain and at worst will be wasted.

How Many Words Per Review?

I recently looked at my Publons statistics for the first (1st) time, and realized that the number of words per review was almost three times higher than average (based on the data available in Publons, of course). Accordingly, I would like to know if I am using too many words/ writing too long a review/ comment too much. To state this in the form of a question: In your opinion, how many words does a good review usually have?

How Many Words Should Your Book Be?

I know from writing a book myself, not to mention it as a topic of discussion during a book coaching call with clients: it's frustrating that there are no "perfect" or even perfectly accurate word count goals for your book. (How can I create a writing schedule or how long will it take to write my book if I don't know how many words I need?) "Enough words to cover your subject or topic" seems to be the kind of smart-Alec answer that would get me into trouble in high school. But it is true.

How Many Words Should My Novel Be?

The average word count in a novel is between 70,000 and 100,000 words. The length, of course, can vary depending on the genre of a book. Fantasy stories can be over 120,000 words, while novels fall below 40,000 words. In general, authors must adhere to the rules of etiquette in order to satisfy readers as well as agents and publishers to meet artistic expectations.

But keep in mind that this is not a difficult and fast range. It differs from book to book and from organization to organization. According to NaNoWriMo, manuscripts must exceed 50k words to qualify. American science fiction and fantasy writers, on the other hand, divide the collections of his famous Nebula Award series into four (4) categories:

• Short story: under 7,500
• Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500
• Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000
• Novel: over 40,000

How Many Words Should We Have in A Sentence?

A simple English guide says an average of 15-20 (Fifteen to Twenty) words (Cuts, 2009; Plain English Campaign, 2015; Plain Language Association International, 2015). Sentences with such words are clearer, less intimidating and easier to scan (Cutts, 2009; Vincent, 2014).

Is there any current evidence that the 15-20 (Fifteen to Twenty) word guidelines apply? Why is sentence length important anyway, and how important is it? Should we count words or parts of information? And how do we manage sentence length?

Pocket dictionary

Another inexpensive option is to buy a pocket dictionary.

Pocket dictionaries are designed to be compact and thus include the most frequently used words selected by the dictionary editors. For example, the one I use to learn Hungarian has 5,000 words and 10,000 definitions. It's not as practical as the frequency list, but it does allow you to browse through the 5,000 most used words.

Conclusion

Learning English vocabulary is a comprehensive task. Mastering English means knowing how to use those 5,000 words. You have to know how to go about it.

• If you are in a hurry and want to learn English in a year, aim to learn 14 new words per day.
• If you want to go about it at a more moderate pace, aim to learn half or seven new words a day.

Regardless, remember that beyond these numbers, it's the consistency that counts. Because, without it, it is impossible to remember anything, you are wasting your time.

By being regular, everything becomes easier and you will be able to use the words you have learned whenever needed.

In other words, aim to study English every day. We will see how to make this possible in later articles.