Dictionary Skills

Study skill: DICTIONARY SKILLS: 

Week 2 By: Azhan Zaffuan Study skill: DICTIONARY SKILLS INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

Using dictionary; the Elements: 

Using dictionary; the Elements Alphabetical order Advance alphabetical order Guide words & Headwords Syllabification, Pronunciation & Phonetic symbols Parts of speech Definitions Multiple definitions Abbreviations & symbols Etc… INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

What is a dictionary?: 

A dictionary is a reference book containing words usually arranged in alphabetical order, it gives information about their meaning, pronunciation, etymology, and uses. What is abridged and unabridged dictionary?? What is a dictionary? INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

But first…: 

Types of dictionary Number of languages Monolingual dictionaries they are written in one language provide many kinds of information about their entry word Bilingual dictionaries provide help for someone who understands one language but not another Unidirectional : e.g.: English – Arabic Bidirectional : e.g.: English – Arabic & Arabic – English Trilingual dictionaries E.g.: Mandarin – English – Malay But first… INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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2. The age of the users School dictionaries: they have simplified and graded vocabularies, large type, and attractive graphics, attractive format and illustrations contain 75,000-100,000 entries College dictionaries : contain 130,000-160,000 entries E.g.: Collins Dictionary of the English Language The size of dictionaries Desk dictionaries: They contain from 60,000-100,000 words. definitions are briefer Pocket dictionaries: They have 40,000-60,000 entries Cheap, small in size Good for spelling. Their definitions are close to synonyms Unabridged dictionaries: They contain between 400,000-600,000 entries Full coverage to the lexicon in general use INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Let’s get started: 

Alphabetical order All words in a dictionary are listed in alphabetical order. That means all words that start with A are in the front of the book and words that start with Z are at the back of the book. Why alphabetical order? = words are easier to find Such arrangement leads to “guide words” Let’s get started INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Guide words words that are on the top of every page. help to "guide you" to the right page. tell you the first word on a page and the last word on the (same/other) page. Headword It is the word you look up in the dictionary. Headwords are the words listed alphabetically throughout the dictionary Entries Consist of a headword and all the information about the headword INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Syllabification divide words into syllables, or sound units, often by placing a dot • between them. to split a word correctly (hyphenate it onto the next line) E.g. Of•fense , Of•fen•sive Pronunciation and phonetic symbols tell you how to say the word – correctly. Every dictionary has a list of phonetic symbols (usually at the beginning or end of the book) E.g. / ˈ betə ðən ˈ evə / . /ˈ mɔ ː ðən ju kʊd biˈliːv / INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Stress mark tells you to put a little more stress (pronunciation) on the syllable that follows the stress mark than other syllables E.g.: 'ne- ver , 'break-fast , 'Mon-day 'pub- lic pub-' li - ci - ty 'bio-lo- gy bio-'lo- gi -cal con-' trib - ute con- trib -'u- tion e-'co-no-my e-co-'no-mi-cal INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Parts of speech the short forms printed in Italic normally on the same line with headwords E.g. blindfold // noun, verb, adj., adv. Tells how the word can be used in a sentence Parts of speech Abbreviation Adjective Adverb Conjunction Noun Preposition Pronoun Verb adj. adv. conj. n prep. pron. v INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Definitions Many word have several, or multiple meanings, and most dictionaries list the oldest meaning first E.g.: INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

Let’s think about these;: 

Let’s think about these; INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

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Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. - Nathaniel Hawthorne - INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1

Thank you: 

Thank you INSPEN/SPHT/ENGLISH1