Hi Michael:

I think you can get it from Penn State's Pattee Library through
interlibrary loan.  You might also be interested in another alphabetical
list, published five years after the Thorndike list in 1926:  Its a U. of
Iowa Monograph, "A Basic Writing Vocabulary:  10,000 Words Most Commmonly
Used in Writing by Ernest Horn.

This is an examination of all sorts of written documents, including
business letters (he lists 26 different business types as sources:
e.g.,auto mfg & sales, druggists, clothing, lumer, law firms, insurance
companies, dealers in crockery and china,public utilities, schools,
churches, and libraries, farmers, etc.); letters printed in magazines and
newspapers; letters of application and recommendation; other adult writing;
minutes, resolutions and committee reports;  prsonal letters; letters of
well-known writers, both American and British, etc.

Horn compares what he does to Thorndike's list--and it fact cross
references his entries to Thorndikes. Here's his intro to the list:

The 10,000 words most important in writing are printed in alphabetical
order.  Names of persons and places are omitted.  The credits for all words
not appearing in italics are based on actual counts in the various
investigations.  The words in italics owe their credits to estimates based
on the data of the copilation of 1922.  Words preceded by an asterisk are
found also in the Thorndike list.  Words preceded by a dagger, while not
reported to Thorndike in the form in which they appear in this list, are
reported by him in some form...etc.

This is only a straight 10,000 in alphabetical order.  It's a fun read!
I'll be happy to lend you my copy if you're interested.

Martha



Does anyone happen to know where I could obtain a categorized
>list of words from Thorndike and Lorge's _Teacher's Word Book of
>30,000 Words_?  (the list in T & L is alphabetical, as those familiar
>with the book will know; and in the back of the book there is a list
>of the first 1,000 words).
>
>By categorized list, I mean (for example) a list of the most
>common 2,000 words, then the next 1000, the next 2,000, (so that
>one could see what a basic 2000, 3000, and 5,000 word vocabulary
>might look like.  I have Nelson and Kucera's frequency count,
>which is helpful, but I would like to have a similar list from
>Thorndike & Lorge for comparison.
>
>Thanks for any advice you can give.
>*************************************************
>"We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy
>of our times is that we do not know this."
>                                Woodrow Wilson
>----------------------------------------------
>R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
>Director, Intensive English Program
>Eastern Mennonite University
>Harrisonburg, VA 22802
>Office: (540) 432-4051
>Home: (540) 574-4277