Developed by
Charles K. Ogden, Basic
English is a
simplified version of the
English language. It strips down the
vocabulary to approximately 850 words, and maintains the
rules of usage from full English. The simplified
language was introduced in Ogden's 1930 book
Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar. Supposedly a student from western
Europe could learn Basic English - including vocabulary,
pronunciation, and
idioms - in just 60 hours. Since 1959, the
Voice of America has broadcasted in a modified version,
Special English, that uses about 1,500 words and a very slow
delivery.
The 850 words are shorthand for other words. For example, puppy and bitch were eliminated - in Basic English, they are both dog - of young age and of female gender, respectively. The original wordlist contained 600 nouns, 150 adjectives, and 100 other words to be combined with the others to establish complete meaning. There are only six operators in Basic English: be, become, cause, make, do, and have. Any other verbs are used only as nouns: instead of the full English I attempted to come, Basic English would say I made an attempt to come.
Source: http://www.basiceng.com/