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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

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25-418: The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ( LDOCE ), first published by Longman in 1978, is an advanced learner's dictionary , providing definitions using a restricted vocabulary, helping non-native English speakers understand meanings easily. It is available in four configurations: The dictionary is currently in its sixth edition. The premium website was revised in 2014 and 2015. It now offers over

50-537: A million corpus examples (exceeding the paper version's), and includes sound files for every word, 88,000 example sentences, and various tools for study, teaching, examinations and grammar. The 9000 Most Important English Words to Learn have been highlighted via the Longman Communication 9000. The free online version was updated in 2008 and offers search (with spelling assistance), definitions, collocations , and many examples and illustrations. A key feature of

75-469: A partner; in the same year, Thomas Brown (c. 1777–1869) entered the house as an apprentice. Longman had three sons. Of these, Thomas Norton Longman (1771–1842) succeeded to the business. In 1804, two more partners, including Edward Orme & Thomas Hurst, were admitted, and the former apprentice Brown became a partner in 1811; in 1824, the title of the firm was changed to 'Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green'. A document of 1823 "Grant of Land in

100-646: A pupil to being a teacher in the school. The first edition of her Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People (1798) was printed privately and anonymously for use there. It was taken up by the London publishing firm Longman , whose still anonymous 1800 edition was dedicated to John Kay. The book became generally known as Mangnall's Questions and was "the stand-by of generations of governesses and other teachers". It had appeared in 84 editions by 1857. Its "level, plain, humane" judgments have been associated with

125-537: A shareholder in 1918. In December 1940, Longman's Paternoster Row offices were destroyed in The Blitz , along with most of the company's stock. The company survived this crisis, however, and became a public company in 1948. Longman was acquired by the global publisher Pearson , owner of Penguin and The Financial Times , in 1968. Longman's medical lists was merged with other Pearson subsidiaries to form Churchill Livingstone in 1972. Also in 1972, Mark Longman, last of

150-604: Is also used for the Longman Schools in China and the Longman Dictionary . The Longman company was founded by Thomas Longman (1699 – 18 June 1755), the son of Ezekiel Longman (died 1708), a gentleman of Bristol . Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship married Osborn's daughter. In August 1724, he purchased the stock and household goods of William Taylor ,

175-605: Is now only used for the Longman Schools in China and oddments such as the Longman Dictionary and Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer . All other textbooks and products use the Pearson brand/imprint. Longman imprints: Attribution: Richmal Mangnall Richmal Mangnall (1769–1820) was an English schoolmistress and the writer of a famous schoolbook, Mangnall's Questions . This had been through 84 editions by 1857. She became

200-742: The Age of Enlightenment , and became more open to criticism in the Victorian age, although the catechism type of textbook remained dominant. The British Constitution met with her approval, as did her country's abolition of the Atlantic slave trade , but Wellington was rebuked for vanity and egotism, and Rabelais for lacking "that delicacy without which genius may sparkle for a moment, but can never shine with pure, undiminished lustre." Details of life at Crofton House school appear in an unpublished childhood diary of Elizabeth Firth (born 1797 at Thornton, near Bradford). It

225-505: The East Indies in 1801. Her parents died about 1781, when she was adopted by an uncle, also John Kay, a Manchester solicitor. Richmal Mangnall began to attend Mrs Wilson's successful school of about 70 pupils at Crofton Old Hall , a Georgian mansion near Wakefield , Yorkshire, built about 1750. There it was found possible for a teacher or senior pupil to teach big classes using a system of question and answer. Mangnall graduated from being

250-537: The LDOCE is its utilization of the Longman Defining Vocabulary, a 2000-word controlled defining vocabulary used to write all of the definitions in the dictionary. This defining vocabulary was developed from Michael West 's General Service List of high-frequency words and their most common meanings. The controlled defining vocabulary is not only helpful to second-language learners, but has also facilitated

275-477: The Concan" printed by the firm under this name shows the name change was from 1823 or earlier. In 1799, Longman purchased the copyright of Lindley Murray 's English Grammar , which had an annual sale of about 50 000 copies. In the following year, Richmal Mangnall 's Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People was purchased, and went through 84 editions by 1857. About 1800 he also purchased

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300-499: The Longman family to run the company, died. Longman continued to exist as an imprint of Pearson , under the name 'Pearson Longman'. Pearson Longman specialized in English, including English as a second or foreign language , history, economics, philosophy, political science, and religion. Longman is now primarily used by Pearson's ELT business (English Language Teaching). The Longman brand

325-569: The Memory / of / Richmal Mangnall / of Crofton Hall / who departed this life on / May day 1820 // Ah when shall spring / visit the mouldering Urn / of Virtue Knowledge / Friendship naught / remain save her / blest soul now fled / to Realms of Bliss." In 2013 a British Blue Plaque was dedicated to Richmal Mangnall by the Wakefield Civic Society. Mangnall's Questions appears in: [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from

350-542: The business in Paternoster Row. Their first success was the publication of Macaulay 's Lays of Ancient Rome , which was followed in 1841 by the issue of the first two volumes of his History of England , which after a few years had a sale of 40 000 copies. The two brothers were well known for their literary talent. Thomas Longman edited a beautifully illustrated edition of the New Testament , and William Longman

375-413: The catechism, and a little pencil drawing. For bad spelling the young ladies were invariably sent to bed." Miss Mangnall took over at Crofton about 1808 and supported her two unmarried sisters, Eliza and Sarah, from her successful school and publishing earnings. She continued to head it until her death there on 1 May 1820 "after a severe illness, which was borne with the utmost Christian resignation." She

400-538: The copyright of Southey 's Joan of Arc and Wordsworth 's Lyrical Ballads , from Joseph Cottle of Bristol. He published the works of Wordsworth, Coleridge , Southey and Scott , and acted as London agent for the Edinburgh Review , which was started in 1802. In 1802 appeared the first part of Rees's Cyclopædia , edited by Abraham Rees . This was completed in 39 volumes plus 6 volumes of plates in 1819. In 1814 arrangements were made with Thomas Moore for

425-663: The first publisher of Robinson Crusoe , for £ 2 282 9s 6d. Taylor's two shops in Paternoster Row , London, were known respectively as the Black Swan and the Ship , premises at that time having signs rather than numbers, and became the publishing house premises. Longman entered into partnership with his father-in-law, Osborn, who held one-sixth of the shares in Ephraim Chambers 's Cyclopaedia (1728). Longman himself

450-453: The headmistress of Crofton Hall, a successful Yorkshire school, and remained so until her death. Richmal was born in Manchester on 7 March 1769 and baptised on 31 March. She was one of the seven children of James Mangnall of Hollinhurst, Lancashire , and London, and Richmal, daughter of John Kay of Manchester to survive infancy. One brother, James, became a London solicitor, another died in

475-411: The publication of Laila Rookh , for which he was paid £ 3 000; and when Archibald Constable failed in 1826, Longmans became the proprietors of the Edinburgh Review . They issued in 1829 Lardner 's Cabinet Encyclopaedia , and in 1832 McCulloch 's Commercial Dictionary . Thomas Norton Longman died on 29 August 1842, leaving his two sons, Thomas (1804–1879) and William (1813–1877), in control of

500-402: The publications of the old firm of Rivington , established in 1711. The family control of the firm (later 'Longmans, Green & Co.') was continued by Thomas Norton Longman, son of Thomas Longman. In 1884 the firm employed John William Allen as an educationalist. Allen grew the firm's educational list, including textbooks he wrote himself. He later inherited the shares of W. E. Green and became

525-497: The use of the LDOCE as a machine-readable dictionary in computational linguistics research. It is a version of LDOCE specialized for collocations , synonyms, antonyms, designed for intermediate to advanced level learners. Longman Longman , also known as Pearson Longman , is a publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC . Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand

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550-599: Was buried in Crofton churchyard near her "inestimable friend" Elizabeth Fayrer (1782-1816). Fayrer was another teacher at Crofton (also mentioned in the Firth Journals) and the two have been described as "kindred spirits" and referred to each other as "dearest friends". In Mangnall's will she requested "to be interred in the same grave with my friend Elizabeth Fayrer in Crofton Church Yard." Her headstone reads, "Sacred to

575-468: Was her recommendation that persuaded Patrick Brontë to send his daughters Maria and Elizabeth there for a short period from September-December 1823, before finding it too expensive. A later account of English social history recalls it as "one of the best known girls' schools" and states, "Here the girls learnt some literature, which consisted of Scott 's longer poems and The Vicar of Wakefield , read aloud by Miss Mangnall herself, geography, spelling,

600-399: Was one of the six booksellers, who undertook the responsibility of Samuel Johnson 's Dictionary (1746–1755). In 1754, Longman took into partnership his nephew, Thomas Longman (1730–1797), and the title of the firm became T. and T. Longman. Upon the death of his uncle in 1755, Longman became sole proprietor. He greatly extended the colonial trade of the firm. In 1794, he took Owen Rees as

625-582: Was the author of several important books, among them a History of the Three Cathedrals dedicated to St Paul (1869) and a work on the History of the Life and Times of Edward III (1873). In 1863, the firm took over the business of John William Parker , and with it Fraser's Magazine , and the publication of the works of John Stuart Mill and James Anthony Froude ; while in 1890 they incorporated with their own all

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