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DICTIONARY SKILLS

How to use a Dictionary

If you want to be proficient in the English language, it is very important that you know how to
use an English dictionary. A dictionary is a very valuable tool because it provides you with a
great deal of information. Look at the following examples of dictionary entries.

a. Headword

b. Phonetics symbols
c. Past tense and past participle

d. Parts of speech

teach/ti:tʃ/ verb (taught,taught/tƆ:t/)

1. To give lessons to students in a school, college,
university, etc.; to help students sb learn sth by
e. Definitions giving information about it: She teaches at the
of the word primary school. • He taught English for ten years
before becoming a journalist. f. Example
2. To show sb how to do sth so that they will be able to sentences
do it themselves: My mother taught me how to cook.
g. Idioms 3. Idm (you can’t) teach an old dog new tricks (you
can’t) successfully make old people chang3 their
ideas or the way they work, etc.

h. Informal form of the word

i. Stress mark

glamorous/ˈglæmərəs/ (informal glam) adj

attractive and interesting; different from ordinary
things and people: Many people think modelling i. opposite of
is a glamorous job. [opp] UNGLAMOROUS the word
glam•or•ous•ly adv: glamorously dressed.

a. The headword is in bold and shows the correct spelling of the word.

k. Derivation from
the headword
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b. The phonetic synbols show you how the word id pronounced. Every dictionary comes

with a pronunciation key.

c. This teels you whivh part of dpeech tis word belongs to. Abbreviations a usually

used, such as, n (noun), v (verb), adj (adjective), adv (adverb), pron (pronoun),

prep (preposition).

d. If the word is an irregular verb, other forms of the verb are also given.

e. The meaning of the owrd id given. If the wors had more than one meaning, the

different meanings are numbered.

f. Example sentences are usually given to show how the word is used in context.

g. Idioms are usually placed at the bottom of the entry after the definitions of the word.

Sometimes, phrasal verbs are also given.

h. The informal form form of the word, if there is one, is given.

i. The stress mark (ˈ) indicates which syllable should be stressed. It is placed before

the stressed syllable.

j. The opposite of the word, or antonym, is sometimes shown. Synonyms may also be

given.

k. Derivations of the headword, \if there are any, are usually indicated at the bottom of

the entry, usually before phrasal verbs and idioms.

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INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS

Introduction

Phonetic transcriptions are used to pronounce English words because the spelling of an

English word does not tell the reader how to pronounce it. Phonetic transcriptions are written

in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English word has its own symbol.

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Vowel Practice – Diphthongs

A diphthong is a vowel-sound containing two elements, during the articulation of

which the tongue, jaws, and lips change their positions. In all English diphthongs
the first elements is conderably stronger than the second.

eI The first elemet in [ei] is produced with the jaws closer together than for
the monophthong [e]

eight, date, gate, late, main, mate, pain, …

ᴐI For the first element the jaws are farther apart and the lips are openly
rounded.

Niose, annoying, boil, enjoy, appointment, oyster, …

ᵉᵊ The jaws are quite far apart and the lips are laxly spread.

Bear, chair, dare, fare, hair, pair, …

ᵅᶷ Be sure that the[a] is not pronounced with a too “dark” a.

Now, foul, crown, brown, fountain, …

ᵊᶷ For the first element is the same as the “bird”, but shorter.
No, coast, coat, code, holy, hope, own, road,…

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Consonant Practice

ᵗᶴ A church
An arch
A chubby child

dᴣ A jelly
A juicy orange
A jam jar
Jeremy

ᶿ Arthur
Healthy
Thieves
Throw

v A stove
A vest
Vice
Victor

ᶻ
A zoo
A zebra
A zebu
prison

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Exercise 1

How to use a Dictionary

The first piece of information that you would get when you look up a word in a dictionary is

the spelling of the word. The following words are spelt incorrectly. Correct them, find the

synonym and indicate what part of speech each of the following word belongs to.

Word Correct word Synonym Part of speech

iland

raindeer

wether

crocodial

accept

beutiful

disipline

aorein

swiming

comittee

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Exercise 2

Phonetics

Part of speech

Transcribe the phonetics into words.

Phonetics Word Phonetics Word

/ bed / / deɪ /
……………… ………………

/ dɒg / / mæn /
……………… ………………

/ bɪɡ/ / wʊmən /
……………… ………………

/ gə:l / / sɔɪl /
……………… ………………

Read the transcribe below.

1. həˈləʊ

2. ðɪs ɪz ə dɒɡ

3. ðə dɒɡ z bɪɡ

4. hi z ə mæn

5. ˈsəʊfɪə z ə ɡɜːl

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