Approximately how many words does the average adult English speaker know?

• A. About 5,000 to 10,000 words
• B. About 50,000 to 70,000 words
• C. About 20,000 to 35,000 words
• D. About 100,000 to 150,000 words

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that the question is about the average vocabulary size of an adult English speaker, which is a common topic in psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology.
2. Recall that vocabulary size refers to the number of words a person can recognize and understand, not just the words they actively use.
3. Consider research findings from language acquisition studies and psycholinguistic surveys, which estimate that the average adult English speaker knows tens of thousands of words.
4. Eliminate options that are too low (5,000 to 10,000) or too high (100,000 to 150,000), based on typical vocabulary size ranges reported in psychological literature.
5. Identify the range that best fits the consensus in psychological research, which is approximately 20,000 to 35,000 words for an average adult English speaker.