加载中…July 17, Castro Valley Adult School Leve 3/4 Text
(2014-07-21 00:02:06)
标签：
教育 |
分类： 英文課筆記 |
Using a dictionary
A. What
dictionaries do I need?
If possible,
you should have two dictionaries: a good bilingual dictionary and
an English learner's dictionary, designed for students learning
English as a second or foreign language. The bilingual dictionary
is quicker and easier for you to understand, but the English
learner's dictionary may give you more information about a word or
phrase. It is also a good idea for you to work in English as much
as possible.
B. What
information does a dictionary give me?
- the meaning, e.g., homesick [unhappy when you are away from home]
- the pronunciation, e.g., chaos /'kei, as/, dreadful /'dred-fel/, island /'ai-lend/
- division of syllables, e.g., stu-dent = two syllables
- the part of speech, e.g., dirty adj. [adjective], lose v. [verb], law n. [noun]
- any special grammatical features, e.g., advice (U) [uncountable]
- common collocations (word partners), e.g., you do homework {not you make homework]
- idioms associated with a word, e.g., take your time with he word time
- example phrases or sentences, e.g., It was such a big menu, I didn't know what to choose.
- synonyms (where they exist), e.g., sad = unhappy
- opposites (where they exist), e.g., polite [x= impolite/rude]
- labels, e.g., formal, informal, spoken, technical, disapproving
C. How should
I use my dictionary?
- When you look up a word in your dictioanary, put a - next to it. Each time you return to a page with a -, look at it quickly to check that you remenber the word.
- If you see an English word in a reading passage, first try to guess the meaning, and continue reading to the end of the paragraph or page to see if your guess seems correct. Then use your dictionary to check the meaning.
- If you look up a word in a bilingual dictionary and get several different words in your own language, try looking up the word in your English dictionary. This should help you decide which word in your own language is the nearest translation in this context.
- Remember that many words have more than one meaning, and the first meaning in the dictionary is not always the one you want. Read through the different meanings and check them against the context of your word.
喜欢
0
赠金笔