Dictionaries—Your Lifetime Teachers

A talk on how to make dictionaries your lifetime teachers

Xu Kerong

What is a good teacher?

A good teacher is one who tries

his/her best to make himself /

herself an unnecessary person.

Main Points

Types of Dictionary

Information a Dictionary offers

When and How to use dictionaries

What dictionary a college student

need

Types of dictionary (1)

According to the language used

All-English dictionaries

Bilingual dictionaries

Types of dictionary (2)

According to size / purposeDesk, or college, dictionaries usually

contain over 100,000 words. Pocket dictionaries, usually paperbacks,

are much more limited. Learner dictionaries are intended for

nonnative speakers who are learning English

Other Types Special dictionary Oxford Collocations     

( 牛津搭配词典 ) Oxford Idioms ( 牛津习语词典 ) Oxford Phrasal Verbs ( 牛津短语动词词典 ) Electronic Dictionaries

Parts of a Dictionary What comes before the dictionary

Foreword, Introduction, etc. The Dictionary—the part that gives detailed information about the words it includes What comes between the pages of the dictionary – inserts Illustrations, pages of cultural information What comes at the end

The Dictionary

cau•tion (kô´shən) n.

1. warning against danger. 2. attention to

safety. 3. (informal) an alarming or amusing

person. v. to warn or reprimand. [from Old

French caution.] 1. Spelling 2. Syllables 3. Pronunciation 4. Parts of speech 5. Meanings 6. Usage 7. History of the word

Information from what comes at the beginning

Numbers that are entries ( 词条 )2 : used in e-mails and text messages 1) to replace to and too , e.g. It’s up 2 U (= It’s up to you). Me 2 (= Me too). 2) to replace to- in other words, e.g. 2d

ay (= today) 4 : used in e-mails and text messages 4 u (= for you) be4 (= before, replacing –fore) 20/20 vision: the ability to see normally without wearing glasses

Language Awareness1. Numbers from 1 – 100; ways of saying the number 0 fractions ( 分数 ) and decimals ( 小数 ); dates; phone numbers2. Phrasal verbs ( 短语动词 )3. Academic writing ( 学术写作 )4. College compositions ( 大学作文 )5. Metaphor 隐喻 6. Computer words 计算机用语 (); 7. Pragmatics ( 语用学 )8. spoken discourse ( 口语语段 )9. Sensitivity ( 敏感话题 ); 10. American and British English ( 美国英语与英国英语的区别 ) 11. Business English ( 商务英语 ) 12. Word formation ( 构词法 )

When and How to Use Dictionaries

To find the exact meaning of words and phraseseat one’s wordsto admit that what you said was wrong

Sam said it would never sell, but when he sees these sales figures he'll have to eat his words.

respectableconsidered socially acceptable, e.g. The ex-prisoner is now a respectable citizenrespectedadmired by many people for one’s qualities or achievements Professor Yang Limin is a ________ teacher. (respected)

To learn how to use a verb what patterns to use

to inform Our teacher informed that the IR class was moved to next Friday. 1) inform sb about/of something 2) inform sb that … X inform that … what adverbs to use to love dearly, deeply, passionately, really, tenderly, unconditionally, wholeheartedly X entirely, fully, completely

To find the right verb for a noun

Don’t translate word for word from a Chinese verb + noun collocation 学习知识 X learn knowledge acquire / gain (Knowledge) 掉眼泪 X drop tears shed / weep (tears) tears well up in one’s eyes Use a verb instead of a v + n collocation 取得成绩 X to make achievement to do well in … to achieve considerable success to achieve good exam results

Information about people and places(Longman Dictionary of Language and Culture)

Nelson Mandela (1918 -- ) the leader of Africa’s ANC party since 1994, and the first black President South Africa. Mandela was in prison from 1964 to 1990 for his opposition to the country’s white government. In 1993 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with President F. E. de Klerk after they had worked together to end the system of apartheid. He is admired all over the world, especially for encouraging people in South Africa to unite and build a new society and to forgive the bad things that happened there in the past.

Changing English-friendly

• used at the end of words to mean ‘not harmful’, e.g. environmentally-friendly detergent （环保洗衣粉） wildlife-friendly farming （保护野生动物的耕作）• not difficult for particular people to understand or u

se, e.g. a user-friendly computer program （容易使用的计算机程序）a customer-friendly shopping mall （便利顾客的购物中心）

Conclusion

Dictionaries are your good teachers.

They are available any time you want to consult them.

They are patient and tireless and able to work with you as long as you like.

They are knowledgeable and are capable of helping you solve many of your problems.

Thank you!

I wish all of you success in

the coming exams!

The End