English 81Mrs. BuchananUsing a Dictionary

Using the Dictionary

• Early this semester welearned about context clues. We discovered that the authors often include the meaning of a word through context clues. But what do you do if you come across a difficult word and no context clue was provided?

• You look it up in the dictionary.

Let’s look at this paragraph.

• On Monday, Nevada became the first to approve a license for "autonomous vehicles" -- in other words, cars that cruise, twist and turn without the need for a driver -- on its roads. The license goes to the prodigious Google, known more for its search engine and e-mail service that nonetheless has been known to plummet into other big ideas such as space elevators to Internet-enabled glasses. (Taken and modified from: www.cnn.com/ “Google Gets License to Operate Driverless Cars in Nevada” by the CNN wire staff. 5/8/12.)

• You probably got the overall message: Google has been approved a license for cars that do not need a driver.

• However, there was a word in the paragraph that did not have a context clue: prodigious. It may be an important word to know the meaning of in order to completely understand the paragraph. Let’s look it up in the dictionary.

• Now let’s look at the paragraph again. By know what prodigious means, the paragraph makes better sense.

• Dictionary entries provide more than just the meaning of the word.

• 1. Syllabication – How is the word broken down into syllables?

• 2. Pronunciation – How do you pronounce the word?

• 3. Function of the word – What is the part of speech?

• 4. Etymology – Where did this word come from? What is the history of the word?

• 5. Other forms – What are the different forms made by adding to or changing the word’s suffix (ending)?

Collegiate Dictionaries

• Listed below are some recommended Collegiate (which means “of or intended for college students”) Dictionaries.

• • Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary

• • The American Heritage Dictionary

• • The Random House Dictionary

• We used a hard copy dictionary to find the meaning of the above word, but there are also many on-line dictionaries. Let’s look up another word in this paragraph – plummet.

• This time we will use an on-line dictionary.

• My favorite one is the Learner’s Dictionary:

• http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

• Now let’s look at that paragraph one more time.

• Are there any other words you do not know?

Dictionary Scavenger Hunt

• Dictionary Scavenger Hunt: Now that we have become more familiar with the dictionary, let’s break up into pairs and go on a dictionary scavenger hunt—using the hard copies of the dictionaries.

• Whoever is done first, bring your paper to me.