Re: [Fwd: Re: [school-discuss] most frequently used words]

[Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

Doug Loss wrote:

> owner-schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net wrote:
>
> > From: Michael Hall <olc@openlearningcommunity.org>
> > To: "schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net"
> > Subject: Re: [school-discuss] most frequently used words
> >
> > There are several lists of the 100 most used words in English kicking
> > around schools. As a language/literacy specialist, I find them of very
> > limited use in actually teaching people (kids or adults) to read, and
> > software based on such lists is IMHO similarly limited.

Slightly off-topic: there is a quasi-artificial language, created in 1930, called
Basic English <http://www.basiceng.com/basiceng.html>.  It is limited to 850 words
and claims to be able to express 90% of the concepts in the dictionary by using
combinations of those words.  Of course, it's open to the criticism that these
combinations of words constitute new compound words with spaces added, especially
if the combinations are abstract or metaphorical.

--
Doug Loss                 All I want is a warm bed
Data Network Coordinator  and a kind word and
Bloomsburg University     unlimited power.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Ashleigh Brilliant