Question

What do you think Johnson’s perspective is on change in the English language? Does he think it is good or bad? Does he think it should be stopped? Cite evidence from the excerpt to support your answer.
Link for excerpt:
http://contentstore.ple.platoweb.com/content/sharedmedia/Passages/English11/assets/BLIT_21L_Dryden_Johnson.htm#Reading_Two

Answer 1

1. Johnson thinks that change in the English language is good. He thinks that the man who spends his time thinking will come up with good ideas and these will need new words. He also refers to the men who do not have much time to speculate but will turn ideas into popular opinions; these will also create new practices and, as a result,  new words will be created. These ideas are from these lines : "Those who have much leisure to think ....... proportion as it alters practice."
2. He thinks language change should not be stopped. " As by the cultivation of various sciences, a language is amplified, it will be more furnished with words deflected from their original sense..". Johnson thinks that change cannot be stopped, though. There are many factors, internal and external, that make language change. He says that he will not be able to comply with what many schoolars have asked from him: to stop any language alteration.