© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Chapter 2:Using Your Dictionary Essential Reading Skills Third Edition Kathleen McWhorter

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Buying Your Dictionary Should have desk or collegiate dictionary plus pocket dictionary. Online dictionaries. Misspeller’s dictionary.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Using a Dictionary Become familiar with the information it provides: Pronunciation Meanings Parts of speech Spelling of other forms of entry word Restrictive meanings Etymology (word history)

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Abbreviations Dictionaries provide a key to abbreviations used in the entry itself as well as commonly used in printed material. Key appears on the inside cover or in first few pages of the dictionary.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Word Pronunciation Pronunciation of the word is given in parentheses. Some words have two accents. Primary stress and a secondary stress. Primary one stressed more heavily and in darker type.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Etymology and Restrictive Meanings Most dictionaries include etymology and restrictive meanings. Etymology is the origin and development of a word. Example curve was derived from the Latin word curvus. Restrictive Meanings are the definitions that apply only when the word is being use with respect to a specific topic or field of study. Example curve has two restrictive meanings—baseball and math.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Multiple Meanings Most words have more than one meaning. Choose the meaning that fits the way the word is used in the sentence context. Meanings are grouped by part of speech and numbered consecutively in each group. The most common meanings are listed first.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Choosing Correct Meaning Try to use parts of speech to locate the correct meaning. Skip definitions that give slang and colloquial meaning. Read each meaning until you find a definition that seems correct. Test your choice by substituting the meaning in the sentence.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Spelling Dictionary entry give the correct spelling of a word. Entry show how the spelling changes when a word is made plural or endings are added. Entry show alternative spellings of words when there are two ways to spell a word. Entry shows how the word is divided into syllables. Verb entries contain verb’s principal parts: past, present, third person tense and participle.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Usage Notes and Idioms Usage note or synonym section of the entry for words that are close in meaning to others. Idiom is a phase that has a meaning other than what the common definitions of the words in the phrase indicate. Example, “wipe the slate clean” means “to start over”

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Pronouncing Unfamiliar Words Divide compound words into the individual words. Divide words between prefixes and roots and/or roots and suffixes. Pronounce each syllable in separate, distinct speech sound. Syllable has at least one vowel and one or more consonants. Divide words before a single consonant, unless r. Divide words between two consonants appearing together. Divide words between two vowel sounds that appear together.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Using Word Mapping Word mapping is visual method of word study. Word Meaning (as used in reading) Other Meanings Part of speech 2 Synonyms Word parts Other

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Using Word Mapping Write the sentence containing the word at the top of map. Look up word in dictionary. Write the word’s part(s) of speech in “part of speech” box. Study dictionary entry for meanings of word and write in “other meanings” box. Write two synonyms in “synonyms” box. Analyze the word’s parts and identify any prefixes, roots, or suffixes. At the bottom of map write two sentences using the word. Include other interesting information about word in “other”.

© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman Publishers. Test Taking Tip #2: Active Test-taking Try pronouncing the word to yourself. Read all the choices before you select and mark an answer. Many vocabulary tests are timed and your score is based on the number of correct answers you get in a specific period of time. Find out if there is a penalty for guessing.

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