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You shouldn’t always use a dictionary! In this video, I’ll explain when you should use a paper dictionary, an online dictionary, or no dictionary at all! I’ll show how to use your dictionary, and answer the question “which dictionary should I use?”.
The OED is widely regarded as the best English dictionary but the full dictionary is about 27 volumes and requires several shelves. There is also a single-volume microprint version that comes with chunky magnifying glass. But it's still much bigger than a regular "desk dictionary".
- Find a text to practice with. Choose something that’s a manageable length. A news or magazine article is usually a good length for this. If you want to use a book, just choose a page or two to start with.
- Read it as fast as you can. Read through the article and try to understand the general idea or ‘get the gist’ of the article. Don’t worry about the details at this point; we’ll have plenty of time for that later.
- Read it in more detail. Now you know the structure of the text and a little about the information in it, you are ready to read it in a bit more detail.
- Look at the tricky words again. Look back at the words you underlined and try to guess what they mean. Now you are familiar with the text, it should be a lot easier and you will find that you can actually guess a lot of them.
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
- Webster’s New World College Dictionary
- The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionaryis preferred by two our primary style guides: 1. The Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago style) and its student version called Turabian1 2. MLA Handbook from the Modern Language Association of America (MLA style)2 Anyone following Chicago or MLA style should consider using this dictionary. Merriam-Webster’s Colle...
The Associated Press Stylebook (AP style) and the New York Times prefer Webster’s New World College Dictionary.4Therefore, anyone following AP style specifically or journalism styles generally should consider this dictionary. Webster’s New World College Dictionaryincludes twelve supplemental sections including punctuation rules, monetary units, boo...
Although The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Languagehasn’t been chosen as a preferred dictionary by any of our primary style guides, it is still a strong option to consider, particularly if you aren’t a strict follower of Chicago, AP, APA, or MLA style. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Languageoffers full-color illustrat...
- Collocation. One thing that can make student writing sound awkward is an odd choice of collocation. Sometimes a choice that would be fine in everyday English or spoken academic contexts, such as do research stands out as too informal in academic writing, where conduct or undertake research might fit better.
- Dependent prepositions. A wrong choice of preposition may seem like a trivial error, and in speech it will usually be overlooked. But in academic discourse, where precision is highly valued, frequent minor errors can give the impression of intellectual sloppiness and inaccuracy.
- Following constructions. You can do a similar thing with the constructions that typically follow particular words (focus on doing, demonstrate how/what …).
- Parts of speech. EAP students need to develop a particular dexterity in swapping between parts of speech, whether they’re trying to find an appropriate paraphrase or construct a complex noun phrase.
A dictionary is a list of words or phrases and their definitions (what they mean). Dictionaries are arranged in alphabetical order. They help you to spell or understand any new words, so are a...
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The largest and most trusted free online dictionary for learners of British and American English with definitions, pictures, example sentences, synonyms, antonyms, word origins, audio pronunciation, and more. Look up the meanings of words, abbreviations, phrases, and idioms in our free English Dictionary.
