HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY
Objectives: Students will: Review when and how to use a dictionary. Use a dictionary to find definitions, utterance, parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms. Distinguish literal and non literal meaning. Identify affixes(prefixes/suffixes) to help in understanding the meaning of unknown word.
What is a dictionary? A book of words listed alphabetically. Words are called entry words.
Why do we use a dictionary? English translation of the word. Synonyms and antonyms. Pronunciation Definition or word meaning (literal/ contextual) How many syllables a word has. information about the word How to use the word in a sentence Part of speech Origins or root Variant spellings for the same word (ax or axe)
Kinds of dictionaries: Bilingual dictionaries Production dictionaries Monolingual (English- English) dictionaries Learner dictionaries Picture dictionaries Multimedia dictionaries
How to Read a Dictionary: Guide words The two Guide words at the top of each page First word on the page Last word on the page
The First Guide Word is the first word on the page
The Second Guide Words tells you the last word on the page
Entry Words Your word needs to fall in between these two guide words
sample sentence/phrase An up close look at a dictionary ENTRY… guide words entry liberate lifelong pronunciation Part of speech li-brar-y (lye-brer-ee) noun A place where books, magazines, newspaper, tapes and videos are kept for reading or borrowing. We have a great reference section in our library. noun, plural libraries, noun, librarian illustration sample sentence/phrase The numbers show the many definitions a word may have.
Special Sections for some Dictionaries Foreign words or phrases Abbreviations Addresses of colleges population of cities and countries
Other information that can be found in a dictionary English to metric conversion tables Maps Explanations of common symbols "How to Use a Dictionary"
Guidelines for using a dictionary read all of its definition Decide which definition makes sense in your context as many words have more than one meaning. Often the dictionary works best when you already have some idea of a word’s meaning. (Graves,2006.)
Why is it important for students to learn reading dictionary? Students must know how to use words: when, with whom, and for what meaning. Students’ ability to communicate with others improves when vocabulary improves comprehension improves. Make students independent learner. Students learn to study for purposes other than test.
Good Dictionaries
Subject specific dictionaries
Activity Make 5 word map worksheets for the words provided below. Use dictionary for filling various entries in the worksheet.
Word Map Worksheet