1. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers Guide to College Reading, 6/e Kathleen T. McWhorter Chapter 4 Learning New Words PowerPoint by JoAnn Yaworski

2. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers This Chapter Will Show You How to:  Use the dictionary and the thesaurus  Pronounce unfamiliar words  Develop a system for learning new words

3. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Four Levels of Vocabulary  Words you use in everyday speech or writing.  Words you know but seldom use in speech or writing.  Words you’ve heard or seen before but cannot define.  Words you’ve never heard or seen before.

4. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Word Information Sources  The dictionary  Subject area dictionaries  The thesaurus

5. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Dictionaries  The Collegiate Dictionary  The Unabridged Dictionary  Subject Area Dictionaries

6. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers The Thesaurus A Thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms:  Locate the precise term to fit a particular situation.  Find an appropriate descriptive word.  Replace an overused or unclear word.  Convey a more specific shade of meaning.

7. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Using a Thesaurus  Start with the index to locate the word you are trying to replace.  Turn to those sections, scanning each list and jotting down all the words you think might work.  Test each of the words you selected in the sentence in which you will use it.  Select the word that best expresses what you are trying to say.  Choose only words whose shades of meaning you know.

8. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Using Your Dictionary  Definition of a word  Word’s pronunciation  Part of speech  History  Special uses can also be found

9. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Abbreviations  v.t. – means: transitive verb  < – means: less than  c. – means: circa; about; around the time of  Obs. – means obscure  Fr. – means French  pl. – means plural

10. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Etymology Etymology:  A words origin and development.  Its history, traced back as far as possible to its earliest use.  Often traced back to another language.

11. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Restrictive Meanings  Definitions that apply only when the word is being used with respect to a specific topic or field of study. Ex: The word “curve” has 2 meanings – one for baseball and another for math.

12. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Multiple Meanings  Use parts of speech to locate the correct meaning.  Skip definitions that give slang.  Read each meaning until you find a definition that seems correct.  Test your choice by substituting the meaning in the sentence with which you are working.

13. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Spelling  The entry gives the correct spelling of a word.  Shows how the spelling changes when a word is made plural or endings. Ex: Word + Ending: budget – budgetary – budgeter

14. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Spelling (cont.)  Includes alternative spellings of words when there are two acceptable ways to spell the word.  Shows how the word is divided into syllables.  Contains the verb’s principal parts.

15. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Pronouncing Unfamiliar Words  Divide compound words.  Divide words between prefixes.  Notice that each syllable is a separate, distinct speech sound.  Notice that each syllable has at least one vowel and usually one or more consonants.  Divide words before a single consonant, unless the consonant is the letter “r.”  Divide words between two consonants appearing together.  Divide words between two vowel sounds that appear together.

16. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers A System for Learning New Words  Make note of new words.  Write the word on the front of an index card.  Once a day, take a few minutes to go through your pack of index cards.  Sort the cards into two piles—words you know and words you have not learned.  Review them often to refresh your memory.

17. © 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers Visit the Companion Website http://www.ablongman.com/mcwhorter Take a Road Trip to the Library of Congress! Visit the Vocabulary module in your Reading Road Trip CD-ROM for multimedia tutorials, exercises, and tests.