Types of dictionary

What you can do in the school library......

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Agrupamento de Escolas de Anadia

There are different types of dictionary: Unlilingual dictionary: it describes the lexicon of one language only. Bilingual dictionary: it shows the equivalent of the words of one language in another language Multilingual dictionary: they show, for each word, the equivalent words in many other languages. Dictionaries of technical and scientific terms: they explain the meaning of terms related to many areas of knowledge Dictionaries of synonyms, antonyms and homonyms: as the names point out, they deal with synonyms, antonyms and homonyms of words Dictionaries of verbs: they are about verbs and their use. Etymological dictionaries: explain the origin of words. Biographical dictionaries: show the biography of personalities.

Request books, dictionaries... Work individually and in group... Use the computer to write your essays... Search documents on the internet... Participate/ promote dynamic activities Study, do the homework...

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Finding your way through a dictionary

Ano lectivo 2010/2011
Work done by 11A Teacher : Teresa Amado

How to work with a dictionary...

It has certainly already happened to you: while you are studying, its important to have a dictionary near you, in order to consult it and understand better what you are reading. So its important to know the alphabetical order first, since a dictionary is alphabetically organized. 1st Start looking for the first letter of the word you want to know the meaning of; when you find it, look for the first three letters of that word. 2nd When you find the word in the dictionary, if it has several parts or sub-parts of speech, see how it is used in the text. 3rd Read again the sentences of the text where that word is. Afterwards, look up for synonyms with the same part of speech the word has in the text. Which one will make sense? 4th Replace the word of the text for that synonym. Read the sentences. Does it make any sense? You did choose well. It doesnt make sense? Try another synonym (and so on).

Finding your way around the dictionary

You must follow some rules when using the dictionary.

PAY ATTENTION TO ABBREVIATIONS!

To help us choose the most appropriate meaning of each sentence in a dictionary, its relevant to have a look at a list of abbreviations which show the different parts of speech of words. For example: n. Its an abbreviation of noun; v. Its an abbreviation of verb; adj. Its an abbreviation of adjective; adv. Its an abbreviation of adverb; pron. Its an abbreviation of de pronoun; sing. Its an abbreviation of singular; pl. Its an abbreviation of plural; sb. Its an abbreviation of somebody; () In an English-English Dictionary: BrE British English; NAmE North American English; IDM Idioms section of an entry; OPP show an opposite; SYN show a synonym; C countable noun; U uncountable noun;

The nouns and the adjectives (variable in gender/ number/ degree) always appear in the masculine gender, in the singular and in the normal degree.

The verbs are always in the infinitive. Therefore, for example, its not worth looking for the verb form eaten, because the verbs only appear in the infinitive (in this case (to) eat).