What did Noah Webster do to be famous?

Answer 1

Noah Webster was the father of American English.

He was a lexicographer, schoolmaster and textbooks writer who dedicated his entire life to introduce spelling and grammar reforms in order to distinguish American usage from British usage.

He also aimed to unify and homogenize American different ways of speaking affected by influences of other foreign languages like: French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish and those of several Native American Nations.

Webster simplified the grammar also in order to facilitate the language learning to the immigrants and introduced new words taken from local speaking, referred to objects, animals, plants etc. which didn't exist in Great Britain.

His most important works were:

Between 1783 -- 1785 - A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, in three parts: a spelling-book, a grammar and a reader.

1806 -- A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

1828 -- An American Dictionary of the English Language, published in two volumes, containing 30

40,000 definitions that had not appeared in any earlier dictionary.

1840 -- Its second edition, corrected and enlarged, also in two volumes.

They replaced in scope and in authority Dr. Johnson's 1755 British masterpiece in use at the time.

Apart it should be taken into consideration his own modern English translation of the King James Bible of 1607, that though being an excellent and highly accurate translation didn't have much impact as the people remained too loyal to the King James Version..