Dictionary Skills

How to make best use of

Dictionary?
 Meaning of Dictionary:
Oxford English Dict.
• n. book explaining, usu. in alphabetical
order, words of a language, or giving
their equivalent in another language;
reference book of words and topics
of subjects arranged in alphabetical
order.
 Dictionary: its meaning…
• It is primarily a book of reference,
but a book worth studying.
• It is to supply much more than just
meanings and spellings.
• It has a wealth of information.
• It records the changes in vocabulary.
 Philology > Etymology…
• Philology is the name given to the
science of languages.
• Etymology deals with the history of
words.
• A few examples… Canter, Boycott,
Assassin.
 Etymology
• Origin of words:
• Assassin: Benzir Bhutto was assassinated
on 27th December, 2007.
• Originated from hashshashim or hashish-
eater.
• Hashish contains intoxicating properties
and was supplied to the fanatical Muslims
to kill Christians during Crusades.
 It enriches Vocabulary…
• A good vocabulary is one of the hall-
marks of an educated person, and a
priceless possession both in business
and in social life.
• How to acquire it?
 Acquire vocabulary
from…
• Conversation, Listening
radio/TV/audio track, Reading …. And
…
• Regular use of the DICTIONARY…
 Don’t forget…
• It is not enough to know only what a
word means….
• One must be able to use
it in
conversation and writing.
 Dictionary Plan
• Each and every dictionary has its
unique plan.
• Read first a few pages of dictionary
to understand dictionary.
• The introduction explains the plan of
dictionary.
 How Dictionary helps?
• Accentuation: Stress pattern.
• It is important to learn which syllable
take stress (it is indicated by a dash
or dot placed immediately after the
stressed syllable).
• Transfer of stress form one syllable to
another sometimes alter the grammatical
functions as well as the meaning of a word.
• For instance,
• ab’stract, with stress on first syllable, is a
noun and means a summary, while abstract’,
the stress on the second syllable, is a verb
and means to take away
 Hymonyms and Paronyms
• Another class of words is frequent source
of trouble.
• Words similar in sound but different in
meaning – Hymonyms.
• Words similar in from but different in
meaning or use – Paronyms.
• Lets discuss some examples….
• WWYP – work with your partners….
 Some examples:
• Bear – Bare – Beer
• Foul –Fawl
• Alter – altar
• Antic – Antique
• Birth – Berth
• Bell – Bail
• Beach – Beech – Bitch
• Queue – cue
• Desert – Dessert
• Dew – due
• Goal – Gaol
• Magnet – magnate
• Patrol – petrol
• Prey – pray
• Whether - weather
 Some more examples…
• Wait – weight
• Sick- seek
• Sun – son
• Week – weak
• Stationary – stationery
• Storey – story
• Sea – see
• Write – right – wright – rite
• Seen – sin – scene
• Herd – heard
• Hart – heart
 Lets make use of
Dictionary…
• Distinguish the meaning of the words forming
each of the following pairs:
• Alternate – alternative
• Beside – besides
• Elicit – illicit
• Emigrant – immigrant
• Credible – creditable
• Human – humane
• Industrial - industrious
 Etymology…
• Write down about the origin of the
following terms:
• Catalogue, commerce, creditor,
importer, insurance
• Messrs, mortgage, prospectus,
quotation, transport
 Parts of Speech
• Noun
• Verb
• Adverb
• Adjective
• Write four sentence with ‘SUCCESS’
using it as the above mentioned parts
of speech in each sentence:
• Success always comes after hard
work. (Noun)
• He is a successful businessman. (Adj)
• India did not succeed in defeating.
(Verb) Australia, thanks to Umpires.
• He successfully passed B.C.A.(Adverb)
 Light
• The sun gives as light. (noun)
• A light purse makes a heavy heart.
(Adj)
• We need torch to light us on our way.
(verb)
• He treated it in light hearted manner.
(Adv)
The need for exactness…
• Ability to choose and use the right
words depends upon the range of one’s
vocabulary, and this will be adequate
only if opportunities are taken to
refer good dictionaries.
• Words change their meanings.
• See this example:
 Variants of word ‘KILL’…
• He was slain on the battlefield.
• The robbers killed him and looted his
property.
• He was murdered in cold blood.
• All the sheep were slaughtered.
• The criminal was executed.
 Confusing words…
• Do not confuse
this…
• Accept (to receive, agree)
• Achieve (to attain by
effort)
• Acquaint ( to make aware)
• Address (formal, and may
be written)
• With this…
• Except (to exclude)
• Get, reach ( to obtain,
possibly without effort)
• Inform ( to tell)
• Speech ( less formal, and
presumed to be spoken)
 Online Dctionary…
• www.dictionary.com
• www.thefreedictionary.com
• How to search good dictionaries on
internet?
• How to use computer dictionaries?
• Encarta, Advance Learners 7th Ed &
Oxford Genie.
 Thank You
• By
• Dr. Dilip Barad
• Dept. of English
• Bhavnagar University
• Bhavnagar – Gujarat
• India.