1. DICTIONARY SKILLS / dɪkʃənri skɪls/
Group members:
Lui Chai Ying
Mohd Iszwan Bin Isnin
Yong Fee Sim

2. What is dictionary? Reference book containing words, usually
arranged in alphabetical order.
It gives information about their meaning,
pronunciation and uses.

3. WHAT ARE THE DICTIONARY SKILLS?1
Guide Words 2
Headwords 3
Syllabication 5
Accent Marks 7
Special
Forms 6
Part of Speech 4
phonetics symbols

4. Different dictionaries have different numbers of guide words on the top of each page.
At the top of each page of the dictionary, there is one GUIDE WORD.
The first word is the same as the guide word at the top of that page
Using alphabetically order, you will find all the words.
Example:
Page 588 in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary shows the first word is same with the guide words, “forgive”. 1
Guide Words

5. The words you look up on a page are printed in bold type.
Example:
“Rubber” (on page 1292).
It is written in bold type and found toward the middle of the right hand column. 2
Headwords

6. Knowing where to split a word correctly
Words divided into syllables by placing a dot (•) or slash (\) between them.
Knowing where to split a word correctly
Examples: 3
Syllabication
rab·bit
re·flec·tion
pre·sen·ta·tion

7. symbols that follow the headword and are set off with slashes (/)
Help to pronounce words correctly
Most consonants are pronounced only one way
Example:
“Can you tell me what is the first
sound is in fish?”
“It’s /f/” 4
Phonetic Symbols

8. It tells you to put a little more stress on the syllable that follows the accent mark than on the other syllables.
Examples:
husband – primary stress
/ ˈhʌzbənd /
continue – secondary stress
/ kənˈtɪnjuː /
presentation – tertiary stress
/ ˌpreznˈteɪʃn / 5
Accent marks

9. The short forms printed in italics are useful
The short forms printed in italics are useful. Here’s a simple explanation.
Some words can be used in several different places in a sentence.
This means that the word can be used as a noun, a word that names a person, place, or thing, or it can be used as a verb describe an action.
Examples:
The light is not bright enough. (noun-naming a thing)
I always light the oil lamp when power goes off. (verb-shows an action)
Mary usually decorates in a light style. (adjective- describes something) 6
Parts of speech

10. The part of speech abbreviations are listed here.
n noun
pron pronoun
adj adjective
adv adverb
vb verb
conj conjunction
prep preposition
interj interjection
Continue…

11. 7 Special Forms Some words in English are inflected .
If a word has some special forms, they are listed after the part of speech.
Examples:
What is the plural of “tomato”? (tomatoes)
What is the past tense of “rise”?
(rose)
If a word has more than one acceptable spelling, it is also listed here.
Usually the preferred spelling is given first. 7
Special Forms

12. References Anonymous. (2008). Retrieved 25 June, 2012 from
Anonymous. (1998). Dictionary Skills. Retrieved 26
June, 2012 from
academic/english/diction/module1.pdf.
Barry & Scholes,A.( 2001) Collins Junior Dictionary
Skills. London, England: Harper Collins Publisher Ltd
Wright, A. (1998), Dictionaries, Oxford University
Press, Hong Kong.