2. 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.
3. 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 Internetenabled 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.)
4. • 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.
5. • 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)?
6. 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
7. • 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?
8. 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.
