ベーシック英語

概説

オグデンによると、通常の英語を学習するには7年、エスペラントには7ヵ月必要であるのに対して、ベーシック英語は7週間で学習することができるとされる。そのためベーシック英語は、難解な内容の書籍を全世界向けに刊行しようとする企業や、短期間で英語を学ばせようとする語学スクールで活用されている。
ベーシック (Basic) には「基礎の、初歩的な」という意味があり、またBritish, American, Scientific, International, Commercial(イギリスの、アメリカの、科学の、国際上の、商業の)の頭字語でもある。
ベーシック英語では基本単語が850(および国際的な単語が78)と語数を少なくしている。それにもかかわらず、オグデンによれば英語での表現と同じような表現ができるという。
動詞、名詞が少なくなっている分を、複数の語を組み合わせたり、一つの単語に複数の意味を持たせたりすることで補っている。
ウィンストン・チャーチルは1944年にハーバード大学での談話でこの言語を国際語として使うことを推奨した。

単語リスト

オグデンの単語リストは、実際に使うときには別途定義された接辞およびどの単語にも許されたあらゆる活用によって拡張されるべき「語根」のみが掲載されている。
この850語の単語リストは、理論的には毎日の生活に十分である。しかしオグデンは、全ての学生が、専門分野の毎日の学習のために、追加の150語を学ぶよう命じている。そのために科学、詩文、ビジネス等の一般分野で特に有用な100語の単語リストと、これら一般分野におけるより専門的な部分集合としての50語の単語リストを使用し、毎日の学習と生活のために合計1000語の語彙を形成するものとした。
さらに、オグデンは、約350語の「国際的単語」について、どんな学生もすでに親しんでおり、一瞥して確認すればいいものとみなした。したがって、初級レベルの学生は、約1350語の語彙とともに卒業すべきことになる。現実的な一般基本語彙は1500語（基本850語＋国際的単語350語＋交易・経済・科学の一般分野のための300語）で構成されると言いうる。この1500語は「BE 1500」と呼ばれ、シンプル英語版ウィキペディアで使用できる語彙とされている。
オグデンは、この一般基本語彙1500語を、一般英語レベルに十分な2000語に拡張するためのリストとして提供していた。この2000語の語彙は「どんな学習者も学ぶべき」と表現された。このレベルに達すれば、学生は自力で通常の課程に進むことができるとされた。

動作に関するもの（100語）

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take, be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will,

about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by, down, from, in, off, 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, well,

almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very, tomorrow, yesterday,

north, south, east, west, please, yes.

物事に関するもの（400の一般的な語）

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air, amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art, attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority, back, balance, base, behaviour, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow, body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business, butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour, comfort, committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection, control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover, crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve, damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design, desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction, discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance, distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust, earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange, existence, expansion, experience, expert, fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire, flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit, glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide, harbour, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour, ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument, insurance, interest, invention, iron, jelly, join, journey, judge, jump, kick, kiss, knowledge, land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level, lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love, machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting, memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month, morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music, name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number, observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization, ornament, owner, 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, purpose, push, quality, question, rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion, representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run, salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex, shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope, smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup, space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch, structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, 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, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight, wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year.

物事に関するもの（200の視覚に訴える語）

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, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin, church, circle, clock, 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, jewel, kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle, nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut, office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough, pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root, sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe, skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp, star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun, table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers, umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

状態に関するもの（100の一般的な語）

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown, cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut, deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal, fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full, general, good, great, grey, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow, important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, 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, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight, strong, sudden, sweet, tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent, waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

状態に関するもの（50の相対する語）

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, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.