. . . yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.
–Preface to A Dictionary of the English
Language,
Samuel Johnson
According to the passage, what distinguishes Johnson’s dictionary from others?
It was the first dictionary to be produced by a group of scholars at a university.
It was written almost single-handedly, with little financial or scholarly support.
It was written by an author who was both curious and learned.
It was the first dictionary to include definitions of simple, everyday words.