Noah Webster's Preface Summary

Noah Webster’s Preface discusses the critical elements of a dictionary and the process he went through while creating his version of an American English dictionary. He explains the years of his research and findings, along with the importance of why he chose the specifics for his edition of his work. During the time after the revolution, it is important for America to establish an American English dictionary, this gives the citizens a reference they can go to that is giving correct identity of words and understanding the nature of the government with definition of the language. During the close of the revolution, in 1783, Webster was asked to consider to write a dictionary. The Revolution was a time when American’s and Britain’s were in conflict with one another for eight years. Noah claims the importance of this work and how there are many differences in the English language between England and America, even though they may have the same pronunciation and grammatical construction. Noah says, “It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English Language ; for, although the body …show more content…
There were different forms of language that was used in each government. With an American English dictionary, this could give the government something to look at that is showing the differences between the two countries and their use of words. Webster says, “In many cases, the nature of our governments, and of our civil institutions, requires an appropriate language in the definition of words, even when the words express the same thing, as in England (page 2). There being a great deal of words that are defined in a phraseology accommodation, giving a main reason why there should be an American English dictionary so England can use this in order to have an understanding of the terms that Americans use that is different from people of