1. HOW TO USE A DICTIONARY

2. Objectives: Students will:
Review when and how to use a dictionary.
Use a dictionary to find definitions, utterance, parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms.
Distinguish literal and non literal meaning.
Identify affixes(prefixes/suffixes) to help in understanding the meaning of unknown word.

3. What is a dictionary? A book of words listed alphabetically.
Words are called entry words.

4. Why do we use a dictionary?
English translation of the word.
Synonyms and antonyms.
Pronunciation
Definition or word meaning (literal/ contextual)
How many syllables a word has.
information about the word
How to use the word in a sentence
Part of speech
Origins or root
Variant spellings for the same word (ax or axe)

5. Kinds of dictionaries:
Bilingual dictionaries
Production dictionaries
Monolingual (English- English) dictionaries
Learner dictionaries
Picture dictionaries
Multimedia dictionaries

6. How to Read a Dictionary: Guide words
The two Guide words at the top of each page
First word on the page
Last word
on the
page

7. The First Guide Word
is the first word on the page

8. The Second Guide Words
tells you the last word on the page

9. Entry Words
Your word needs to fall in between these two guide words

10. sample sentence/phrase
An up close look at a dictionary ENTRY…
guide words
entry
liberate lifelong
pronunciation
Part of speech
li-brar-y
(lye-brer-ee) noun
A place where books, magazines, newspaper, tapes and videos are kept for reading or borrowing.
We have a great reference section in our library.
noun, plural libraries, noun, librarian
illustration
sample sentence/phrase
The numbers show the many definitions a word may have.

11. Special Sections for some Dictionaries
Foreign words or phrases
Abbreviations
Addresses of colleges
population of cities and countries

12. Other information that can be found in a dictionary
English to metric conversion tables
Maps
Explanations of common symbols
"How to Use a Dictionary"

13. Guidelines for using a dictionary
read all of its definition
Decide which definition makes sense in your context
as many words have more than one meaning.
Often the dictionary works best when you already have some idea of a word’s meaning.
(Graves,2006.)

14. Why is it important for students to learn reading dictionary?
Students must know how to use words: when, with whom, and for what meaning.
Students’ ability to communicate with others improves when vocabulary improves comprehension improves.
Make students independent learner.
Students learn to study for purposes other than test.

15. Good Dictionaries

17. Subject specific dictionaries

18. Activity
Make 5 word map worksheets for the words provided below. Use dictionary for filling various entries in the worksheet.

19. Word Map Worksheet