Basic English simple:Basic English Basic English is a simplified English language with a small number of words crea ted

by Charles Kay Ogden and described in his book Basic English: A General Intr oduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). Ogden said that it would take: seven years to learn English, seven months for Es peranto, and seven weeks for Basic English. Thus Basic English is used by compan ies who need to make complex books for international use, and by language school s that need to give people some knowledge of English in a short time. Ogden did not put into Basic English words that could be said with a few other w ords, and worked to make the words work in any country. He put his set of words through a large number of tests and adjustments. He also made the grammar simple r, but tried to keep the grammar normal for English users. Table of contents 1 Rules of grammar 2 Criticisms 3 Historical references 4 Word List 4.1 OPERATIONS - 100 words 4.2 THINGS - 400 General words 4.3 THINGS - 200 Picturable words 4.4 QUALITIES - 100 General 4.5 QUALITIES - 50 Opposites 5 External links: Rules of grammar Ogden's rules of grammar for Basic English help people use the 850 words to talk about things and events in a normal way. Make plurals with an "S" on the end of the word. If there are special ways to ma ke a plural word, such as "ES" and "IES," use them. There are four wordends to change each of the 300 nouns: -"ER" and -"ING", and t he two adjective wordends, -"ING" and -"ED". Make qualifiers from adverbs with the wordend -"LY". Talk about amounts with "MORE" and "MOST." Use and know -"ER" and -"EST." Make opposite adjectives with "UN"Make questions with opposite word order, and "DO". Operators and pronouns conjugate as in normal English. Make combined words from two nouns (for example "milkman" or "wordend") or a nou n and a directive (sundown). Measures, numbers, money, months, days, years, clock time, and international wor ds are in English forms. Use the words of an industry or science. For example, in this grammar, some spec ial words are for teaching languages, and not part of Basic English: grammar, pl ural, conjugate, noun, adjective, adverb, qualifier, operator, pronoun, and dire ctive. Criticisms One criticism of basic English is that in order to reduce word count, it uses la rge numbers of idiomatic expressions which are non-obvious to non-native English speakers. For example the term "make good" is used for "succeed" while the term "make bad" is not used for "fail." English relies heavily on idioms, of which t here are about 4000 presently recognized by most idiom dictionaries - requiring nearly 2000 words, more than twice the vocabulary of Basic English, to define. A counter-argument is that English speakers will eventually need to learn this la rger vocabulary, and the idioms, at some point, so little or no harm is done by introducing asymmetric idioms early on.

Another criticism is that it is a form of linguistic imperialism, because it att empts to make English, and by extension, Anglophone cultures, into the default i nternational culture. It also preserves other irregularities of the English lang uage in the interest of backward compatibility. A third criticism is that it is not as effective as E-Prime at enabling non-judg emental communication, since "to be" is permitted but other words required to in dicate states of being (e.g. "equals", "become") are not. Historical references Winston Churchill supported the idea of Basic English's use as an international language at first, mentioning it in a speech at Harvard in 1944, but according t o one story was put off it when he was told that "blood, toil, tears and sweat" translates into Basic English as "blood, hard work, eyewash and body water." According to the Times Educational Supplement's Talking To series, George Orwell might have parodied Basic English in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. The referen ces to Newspeak could be interpreted as a hidden critique against the "universal languages" which had been proposed during the period of the writing of the book . Word List These are the 850 core words of Basic English. OPERATIONS - 100 words come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, s end, may, will about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, o ff, on, over, through, to, under, up, with, as, for, of, till, than, a , the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this, I , he, you, who, and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why, again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then, there together, we ll almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yester day north, south, east, west, please, yes. THINGS - 400 General words account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amuse ment, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, atten tion, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behavior, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, b usiness, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, color, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, co ntrol, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, c rime, crush, cry ,current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, de cision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, dir ection, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, divisio n, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, even t, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, fami ly, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, f old, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, gr ass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbor, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, his tory, hole, hope, hour, humor ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insec t, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge , jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leath er, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, ma chine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, m

etal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, mot ion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number , observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, ow ner, page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place, plant , play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder, power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property, prose, protest, pull, punishment, pu rpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reaso n, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, r eward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, sha ke, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slop e, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sou nd, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, sto p, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, sur prise, swim, system, talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder, time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use, value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, wa ter, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, woo l, word, work, wound, writing, year THINGS - 200 Picturable words angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird, blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake, branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button, cake, cam era, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, cloc k, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup, curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain , drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame garden, girl, glove, goat, gun, hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jew el, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, ma tch, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, off ice, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, p lough/plow, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, ro of, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, sta tion, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, t hroat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umb rella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm . QUALITIES - 100 General able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dep endent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey/gray, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, med ical, military, natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor, possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet, ready, red , regular, responsible, right, round, same, second, separate, serious, sharp, sm ooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young . QUALITIES - 50 Opposites awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear , delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green , ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, specia l, strange, thin, white, wrong . First Level Addenda - 350 words absence , accident , address , adventure , advice , age , agent , ago , along , also , always , ambition , anchor , ankle , arrangements , ash , awkward , balc ony , barrel , beard , beat , behind , belt , bet , blame , blanket , both , bot

tom , brave , breakfast , breast , bubble , bud , bunch , burial , busy , calcu lation , call , capital , carpet , case , ceremony , chair , character , child , chimney , china , choice , civilization , clay , clever , collection , column , communications , concept , concrete , convenient , cool , corner , cost , crop , cross , cunning, date , demand , department , dew , difficulty , dinner , dis grace , dislike , ditch , dive , divorce , doll , dreadful , dream , dull , duty , each , easy , economy , effort , either , employer , empty , enemy , envelop e , envy , evening , exact , excitement , exercise , explanation , explosion , e xpression , eyebrow , eyelash , failure , fair , famous , fan , fastening , fev er , figure , financial , flash , flesh , flood , flour , forecast , forehead , foreign , forgiveness , fresh , frost , frozen , funny , fur , furniture , gate , generation , germ , god , grand , grateful , grease , grief , grocery , groun d , guard , guess , gum , habit , handkerchief , handle , heavy , hedge , hill , holiday , home , honest , honey , human , hunt , hurry , hurt , husband , ima gination , innocent , institution , intelligent , invitation , jam , jaw , jeal ous , jerk , joint , jug , juice , jury , justice , kennel , kidney , kitchen , knock , lace , lame , lamp , large , lawyer , lazy , lecture , legal , lesson , lever , license , lid , life , lime , liver , load , local , loop , luck , lum p , lunch , lung , magic , manner , many , marble , marriage , mast , mattress , mean , meaning , medicine , member , mess , message , mill , mineral , model , modern , modest , mood , moral , moustache , mud , murder , nasty , nature , n avy , neat , neglect , neighbor , nest , next , nice , nostril , nurse , obedie nt , officer , orchestra , organ , origin , oval , own , pad , pair , pan , par agraph , party , passage , patience , pedal , people , perfect , plaster , poetr y , pool , practice , praise , prayer , prick , priest, progress , promise , pro of , proud , pupil , pure , race , real , reference , remark , remedy , repair , result , revenge, rich, rise, rival, rude, rust , sale , satisfaction , sauce r , scratch , screen , search , selfish , sentence , set , shave , sheet , shell , shoulder , show , sight, since , sleeve , social , soldier , sorry , spark , spirit , spit , splash , spot , stable, stair, steady , storm , strain , straw , stream , string , study , subject , success , sum , supply , surface , surgeon , suspicious , swing , sympathetic , tailor , tame , tap , tear , tent , thief , thimble , threat , tie , too , towel , tower , traffic , tragedy , trap , trav el , treatment , truck , tube , tune , tunnel , twin , typist , ugly , understa nding , universe , valley , vegetable , victim , victory , vote , weak , welco me , whether , widow , wife , wild , world , wreck , wrist , yawn.