Samuel Johnson is best known for compiling:

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A comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The correct answer is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Published in 1755 after nine years of work, "A Dictionary of the English Language" was the most authoritative English dictionary for over a century. Johnson's definitions were notable for their wit and literary illustrations drawn from the best English writers. The dictionary standardized English spelling and usage.

The first major English translation of the Bible was the King James Version (1611), produced over a century before Johnson's dictionary. While Johnson contributed to English language standardization, he did not write the first grammar book; English grammars existed earlier. Johnson's project was a dictionary, not an encyclopedia, though it was enormously comprehensive in its coverage of the language.

Johnson is a key figure for the CLEP exam as the dominant literary figure of the mid-18th century. Students should know his dictionary, his literary criticism (especially "Lives of the English Poets"), his moral essays ("The Rambler," "Rasselas"), and the famous biography by James Boswell ("The Life of Samuel Johnson"). The Johnsonian period represents the height of Augustan literary culture.

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