1
Work out the share of a page that a word list covers
The first 1,000, the first 2,000 and all 2,800 words, counted on a passage from a novel, part of a play and two modern documents, each with the number of words read printed beside it.
Course · English
Vocabulary and Reading
How many words do you need to read a page? This course counts. It checks every word of a passage from a novel, part of a play and two modern documents against the 2,800 words of the list, prints the words that are left, and lets you paste a text of your own. Then it shows which ten words make up a quarter of any page, and what changes when a word and its family are counted as one.
98% known a reader can follow
91.0% the passage, all 2,800 words
94.3% and names
95.6% and families
25.6% the commonest ten words
67.7% the commonest hundred
What this course is about
- Subject
- English
- Lessons
- 3
- Format
- Interactive
Overview
What you will be able to do
By the end you can say how much of a page you know, name the words that stand between you and an easy read, and say what a figure counts when someone gives it to you.
2
Compare your figure with the one a reader needs
98%, quoted from Nation, against the share the lab prints, and the number of words in a page that the gap stands for.
3
Say what a name costs and what it does not
A name is read without being learned, so the lab sets it apart; the share with names is the fairer one to hold against 98%.
4
Read a frequency list the right way round
The ten commonest words make up about a quarter of a page, and they are the small grammar words, not the words that carry the story.
5
Tell a word from a word family
A word with its endings is one thing to count; a word with the words made from it is another. The lab shows how many points the second choice adds.
6
Test a text of your own
Paste fifty words or more and read the share, the words not covered and the commonest words, all counted on your page.
Lessons
3 lessons
The share first, because the other two lessons change what it counts. Then the commonest words, which are a small part of the list and a large part of every page. Last, the choice between counting a word and counting its family.
How Much of a Page You KnowCheck every word of a page against the list, and read the share you know and the words you do not.Not marked
Ten Words Are a Quarter of the PageRank the words of a page by how often they appear, and the top ten turn out to be the small words that hold a sentence together.Not marked
Word or Word FamilyA word with its endings and a word with every word made from it are two different things to count, and the lab shows the difference.Not marked
Recommended background
Tense Tables, Irregular Verbs, Nouns and Articles, and Small Words and Comparisons. The lab in this course runs their rules backwards: it takes “walked” back to “walk”, “children” back to “child” and “happier” back to “happy” before it asks whether the word is on the list. You do not need to have learned the rules by heart, but you will meet each of them again.
Practice suggestions
Read the printed list of words the lab did not cover, not only the share. The share says how far you are from a reader's 98%; the list says which words would take you there.
Change one thing at a time. The lab has a menu for the text and a menu for the list under the numbers. Change the text and watch the shares move; change the list and watch the table.
Paste a page you have to read. A figure for a passage from 1813 is interesting, but the figure for the page on your desk is the one you can use.
What it does not cover
The meaning of a word. The lab reads spellings. It cannot tell which meaning of light or run a sentence uses, or that a phrase means something its words do not. A share of 94% says how many words you can find in the list. It does not say how many you can follow.
Words past the list. The list stops at about 2,800 words. What to learn after it depends on what you read, and the lab prints the words your own text needs, which is a better guide than any other list.
How to learn a word. Spacing, repeating and using a word are real skills, and no count on this page measures them. The course says which words, not how.
Special texts. A page of law, medicine or machines will fall below 98% whatever you do with these 2,800 words. The modern documents show it, and the lab lets you see it for yourself.