USING THE DICTIONARY

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USING THE DICTIONARY
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Types of dictionary

• Bilingual and monolingual dictionaries
• Pronunciation dictionaries
• Learner dictionaries (for non-native speakers)
• Collocation dictionaries
• On-line dictionaries

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What can I find in a dictionary?

• examples
• grammatical information
• translation
• pronunciation
• idioms
• specialist vocabulary
• phrasal verbs
• American English
• cultural notes
• related words
• synonyms
• definitions
• antonyms
• illustrations
• cross references
• abbreviations
• compound nouns
• collocations

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• examples
• grammatical information
• translation
• pronunciation
• idioms
• specialist vocabulary
• phrasal verbs
• American English
• cultural notes
• related words
• synonyms
• definitions
• antonyms
• illustrations
• cross references
• abbreviations
• compound nouns
• collocations

• Monolingual dictionaries

• Bilingual dictionaries

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What makes a good learner dictionary

• example sentences for each word
• a large language database (corpus) as a source of
  information
• pronunciation using the International Phonetic
  Alphabet (IPA)
• a CD-Rom for your PC
• simple definitions
• information on the word collocation
• information on the use of the word
• British and American spelling/pronunciation
• pictures and visuals

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Some tips

• Choose a large dictionary rather than a concise
  one. You need one which is big enough to define
  words clearly.
• There are over 600,000 words in the Oxford
  English Dictionary, most of them with different
  meanings.
• Keep your dictionary at hand when you are
  studying.
• Read the introductory pages and study pages to
  become familiar with the dictionarys
  terminology.
• Improve your vocabulary by reading widely.
• If you haven't got your dictionary with you, note
  down words which you don't understand and look
  them up later.
• Remember that there are different types of
  dictionaries to suit your needs.

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• Dictionaries prove to be a very important source
  of information on collocation, if used properly.
• A good monolingual dictionary usually provides at
  least one or two expressions or sentences
  demonstrating the use of a word.
• A dictionary is an important decoding tool,
  useful to find out the meaning of unknown words
• It is also an encoding tool that will show the
  ways of combining words into meaningful chunks.

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DICTIONARY and TERMINOLOGY
Homophones Idioms Prefixes and Suffixes Phrasal
Verbs Pronunciation and Stress Registers Synonym
s and Antonyms Usage notes
Abbreviation and Acronims Compounds Cross-refere
nces Definitions Entries Examples Grammar
Codes Headwords Homographs
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Corpus, concordance, collocation
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WHAT IS A CORPUS?

• A corpus (plural corpora) is a large collections
  of authentic texts that have been stored on a
  computerised database.
• Any collection of more than one text can be
  called a corpus (as corpus is Latin for body,
  hence a corpus is any body of written or spoken
  text).
• A corpus helps us to understand more about the
  language and how people use it.

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CORPORA

• Text Database to be examined with
• Software (concordancer) Concapp Wordsmith tools
  etc
• in order to observe the behaviour of key words in
  context
• Examples

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KWIC (Key Word in Context )


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(No Transcript)
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CONCORDANCE LINES

• A corpus organises the texts in concordance lines
  using a special concordance software called Key
  Word in Context (KWIC).
• A concordance line or string is a single line of
  text, often with words cut off at the beginning
  and at the end of the line.

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Text vs Corpus View
A text A corpus
Read whole Read fragmented
Read horizontally Read vertically
Read for content Read for formal patterning
Read as unique event Read for repeated events
Read as an individual act of will Read as a sample of social practice
Coherent communicative event Not a coherent communicative event
Tognini-Bonelli (200418)
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CORPUS LINGUISTICS

• It is the study of language through the use of
  corpora and the observation of real language.

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EXAMPLES OF CORPORA

• COBUILD - Collins-Birmingham University
  International Language Database (200 million
  words).
• British National Corpus (100 million words).
• Cambridge International Corpus (over 1 billion
  words).
• Cambridge Learner Corpus (25 million words).

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WHAT IS A COLLOCATION?

• It is the way words tend to occur or belong
  together.
• Example
• Meals will be served outside on the terrace,
  weather permitting.
• (NOT -weather allowing)

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• We should know a word by the company it keeps.
• J. R. Firth (1957)
  

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TASK 1

• What is the difference between make and do?
• Can you explain why you say
  do your homework
  and NOT
  make your homework
• ?

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To Make and To Do

• Look at a few of the many definitions of the two
  verbs above from the Oxford Modern English
  Dictionary

Do-did-done 1. To perform, carry out, achieve. E.g. he did his homework theres a lot to do
Do-did-done 2. To produce, make. E.g. she was doing a painting.
Do-did-done 3. To work at, study. E.g. He did Chemistry at University.
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Make made - made To construct, create, form. E.g. Make a table make him a sweater.
2. To cause, to become or seem. E.g. Make him angry.
3. To compose, prepare. E.g. Make a film about Japan.
4. To execute, perform. E.g. Made a face, made a bow.
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Which of the verbs speak, say, tell fit best into
the gaps in these examples?

• 1. (on the phone) HelloHello, come on ___
  something!
• 2. To ___ the truth, I was expecting it from
  someone so selfish.
• 3. As I ___, theyve already appointed somebody.
• 4. Shall we ___ two oclock?
• 5. Usually actions ___ louder than words.
• 6. He can ____ such funny stories.

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• 1. (on the phone) HelloHello, come on say
  something!
• 2. To tell the truth, I was expecting it from
  someone so selfish.
• 3. As I said, theyve already appointed somebody.
• 4. Shall we say two oclock?
• 5. Usually actions speak louder than words.
• 6. He can tell such funny stories.

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THE ROLE OF COLLOCATIONS

• Language collocations are mainly a matter of
  convention and they are not necessarily based on
  compatibility of meaning.
• Words are not normally used in isolation and
  therefore there is no use in learning single
  words.
• It is more efficient to learn the whole and break
  it into parts.
• It is more difficult to learn the parts and then
  put them together.

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Collocations are arbitrary they are only decided
by linguistic conventions

• high/tall building, tall boy.
• look at a person/a problem, gaze at a person.

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Learning collocations will help

• effective communication,
• thinking more quickly,
• focusing attention on the larger structure of
  discourse,
• developing fluency based on the acquisition of a
  large store of fixed and semi-fixed,
  prefabricated chunks.

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Common Collocations

• What is a collocation?
• A collocation is a predictable combination of
  words
• Make friends /not/ do friends
• Do homework /not/ make homework
• Total disaster /not/ complete disaster

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Common Collocations

• Match the verbs with the nouns that generally
  follow them.

Book a. A crime 6. Clap f. A car
Tell b. An example Give g. A question
Commit c. A room Drive h. Attention
Pay d. The truth Ask i. Your seat belt
Fasten e. A horse 10. Ride j. Your hands
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Common Collocations

• Choose the words/phrases you can associate with
  the verbs in the table.
• a rest your homework your job a photo
  an effort a party an exam note a noise
  the washing up a mistake a bath a comment
  a problem a tootache breakfast.

You can make
You can have
You can take
You can do
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There are different kinds of collocation, that is
ways words co-occur together ( chunking) ,
considering the different combinations of parts
of speech
TYPES OF COLLOCATIONS
Adjective noun Plain chocolate Plain food
Verb adverb Live dangerously Drive carefully
Noun noun A cheque book A phone number
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Collocational Strength
Strong collocations Medium collocations Weak collocations
Scrupulous Make a mistake A red car
The word scrupulous collocates with a very limited number of words and therefore a scrupulous care or scrupulous attention are rare collocations to find. The verb make and the noun mistake are quite generic words, but when they come together they express a very specific idea that is largely used when we communicate. The adjective red ad the noun car can collocate with a very large number of words.
E.g. I often make mistakes/ Ooops, I made a mistake again!
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Read text 1 and underline the collocations you
see.
Outside in the hall, Harry leant against the wall, breathing deeply. It had been a long time since hed lost control and made something explode. He couldnt afford to let it happen again. The Hogsmeade form wasnt the only thing at stake if he carried on like that, hed be in trouble with the Ministry of Magic. Harry was still an underage wizard, and he was forbidden by wizard law to do magic outside school. His record wasnt exactly clear either. Only last summer hed got an official warning which had stated quite clearly that if the Ministry got wind of any more magic in Privet Drive, Harry would face expulsion from Hogwarts. He heard the Dursleys leaving the table and hurried upstairs. (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, p.25)
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From the text we have just read can you remember
the missing collocations?
Outside in the hall, Harry _________________, ______________. It had been a long time since hed __________ and made something explode. He couldnt afford to let it happen again. The Hogsmeade form wasnt the ___________ at stake if he carried on like that, hed ________________ with the Ministry of Magic. Harry was still an ____________, and he was forbidden by wizard law to ______________ outside school. His record wasnt exactly clear either. Only last summer hed got an ________________ which had stated quite clearly that if the Ministry got wind of any more magic in Privet Drive, Harry would _____________ from Hogwarts. He heard the Dursleys _____________ and hurried upstairs. (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, p.25)
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What can you learn by using a concordancer?

How words combine - collocations e.g. make
fortune do shopping Recurrent semantic
patterns e.g. to comply with is usually followed
by reference to people or organizations Recurren
t syntactic patterns colligations e.g. to
like is usually followed by an ing form like
dancing, singing Pragmatic features e.g.
Register Textual features -use of words e.g.
some words may reocurr more in questions than in
answers, or in titles more than in the body of a
newspaper interview e.g. to talk Paul Mc
Cartney talks about his new life
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Lonley Hearts Ads Searches for PRETTY /
ATTRACTIVE / TALL
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It is a collection of about 41 short texts of
about 2000 words
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Activities on Lonley Hearts Ads mt
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• Reflect on
• -the language you are reading
• adjectives
• recurrent adjectives
• recurrent collocations
• comments

American English (NJ, USA, NYC),
informal handsome good attractive
pretty tall successful a
part from good they tend to occur together
ex15 tall handsome successful 20/2c/3c/4c
tall handsome/slim 4b/7b/8b intelligent/classy
attractive 18/2a/3a/5a/7a very/extremely
pretty good looking 7c good sense of
humor usually adjectives are organized following
routine patterns usually some go with others,
some dont
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Lonley Hearts Ads Examples of more information
corpora and concordancers can give you on
language use in these kinds of contexts
Two adjectives having similar meaning are used
differently
Pretty appears in initial position preceded by
intensifying adverbs, followed by adjectives
describing physical ed emotional features (slim
8a, slender 7a, curvaceous 3a, passionate 6a,
mellow 5a), used only for women
Attractive is used without intensifying adverbs,
in collocation with adjectives referring to
social skills (professional 5b, intelligent
4b/5b, successful 7b, classy 7b, ivy educated
5b), used for both men and women.
Tall tends to precede other adjectives even when
it is an apposition
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WordsmithTools

• Where can you get WS Tools?
• Download demo version from Scotts site
• http//www.lexically.net/wordsmith/index.html