Question

Read the excerpts from Samuel Johnson’s preface to A Dictionary of the English Language.

Answer 1

Answer: Excerpt 1 recognizes the importance of word origins, but excerpt 2 suggests that studying word origins could be a waste of time.

Explanation: Johnson's dictionary was not the first, nor was it unique. It was, however, the most commonly used and imitated for the 150 years between its first publication and the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1928. Thomas Babyton Macaulay described Johnson as a "wretched etymologist".

Answer 2

Confirmed on Edge, it is A:

Excerpt 1 recognizes the importance of word origins, but excerpt 2 suggests that studying word origins could be a waste of time.