FINDING THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Each word in English is a ‘part of speech’ and plays a particular part in the sentence. Your dictionary will identify each word for you using the appropriate abbreviation.

Defining the parts of speech

To refresh your memory, the parts of speech with their abbreviations are set out below:

• Noun (n.): a person, place or thing.
• Pronoun (pron.): a word that replaces a noun.
• Verb (v.t. and v.i.): an ‘action’ or ‘being’ word; v.t. is a transitive verb and takes an object. (It is followed by a noun. ‘He wrote a letter’: letter=object.) v.i. is an intransitive verb and does not take an object. (It is not followed by a noun. ‘She dances beautifully’.) Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. Look at the following:
  • (Transitive) She danced the waltz, (waltz = object)
  • (Intransitive) She dances beautifully, (no object)
• Adjective (adj.): a word that describes a no
• Adverb (adv.): a word that qualifies a verb, an adjective another adverb.
• Conjunction (conj.): a word that joins two ideas (clauses) in a sentence.
• Preposition (prep.): a word that shows the relations between one word and another.

LEARNING PRONUNCIATION

The dictionary will also help you to pronounce words with which you are unfamiliar. Does the stress fall on the first or second syllable? Are there ‘silent’ letters? Is ‘c’ pronounced as a ‘k’?

Using ‘received pronunciation’

The pronunciation used by most dictionary compilers is known as ‘received pronunciation’. It takes no acount of the variations used in different parts of the British Isles or indeed in other parts of the English speaking world although some may refer to American spelling and pronunciation. ‘Received pronunciation’ is standard English ‘without any accent’ associated with speakers from the South of England. (Others may, of course, consider this itself is an ‘accent’!)

The phonetic pronunciation, where necessary, is shown in brackets:

Using stress marks

The symbol’ is used after the stressed vowel:

chron‘icle

fo‘lder

my‘stery

ri‘ddle

spo‘rran

Short vowel sounds are shown by a little semi-circle above the letter:

băt	bǐtter	bŭtter	chǐn	dǒg	fătten
hǒt	hǒp	lǐt	nŭt

The word ‘love’ would be shown as (luv).

The same symbol over a ‘y’ shows that the letter is pronounced as ‘ee’:

factorŷ

libertŷ

happŷ

prettŷ

Long vowel sounds have a line over the top:

fāte	hōpe	gō	nōte	nō	nūde
ōde	rāte	rōpe	rōse

A vertical stroke between two letters is sometimes used to identify a syllable (unit of a word).

ine‘bri/ate

magne‘si/a

medi/ate

nu‘cle/us

Examples of pronunciation

blun‘derbuss	blu‘bber	co‘ma	fa‘ctor
fa‘ctual	fa‘culty	ha‘bit

CHECKING THE MEANING

On most occasions you will probably use the dictionary either to check the spelling of a word or to find its meaning. The main words will be in alphabetical order in bold type and the definition will follow.

compel v.t.	to force
leather n.	tanned animal skin

Adding extra words

Some words have other words and phrases linked to them. In this case the original word is represented by the symbol ~ in bold type and the other words follow - also in bold type. Each has a definition, for instance:

’wash’ can be followed by other words linked by hyphens:

~ –basin	~ –bowl	~ –house	~ –leather
~ –pot	~ –rag	~ –stand	~ –tub

Expressions using wash are also given:

~up	~won't	~ed out	~up
~out

There may also be examples to clarify the meaning. These are usually shown in italics:

• He was washed overboard.
• It was washed up by the sea.
• She washed down the tablet with a sip of water.

Looking at different meanings

If a word has more than one meaning it will appear more than once in bold type in the margin of the page and the different definitions will be given. Each will usually be a different part of speech.

Examples

• anger 1 (n.) extreme displeasure
• anger 2 (v.t.) to make someone angry
• fast 1 (v.i.) to go without food
• fast 2 (n.) the act of going without food
• fast 3 (a.) firmly attached to something
• fast 4 (adv.) quickly
• grate 1 (n.) metal frame holding fuel in a fireplace
• grate 2 (v.t.) to reduce a substance to small pieces by rubbing on a rough surface
• grate 3 (v.i.) to create a harsh sound which has an irritating effect
• land 1 (n.) solid part of earth: a particular country
• land 2 (v.i.) to disembark from a ship or bring a plane down to earth.

ADDING NEW WORDS

New words are constantly being added to our language. Lewis Carroll is credited with introducing ‘portmanteau’ words in his children’s classic Alice through the Looking Glass. ‘Portmanteau’ words are words that combine two known words:

- chortle: a combination of chuckle and snort.

Today these have become very popular and we have:

brunch	–breakfast and lunch
medicare	–medical and care
motel	–motor and hotel
Oxbridge	–Oxford and Cambridge
transistor	–transfer and resistor

Shortening words

Another modern trend is to shorten words. A syllable is deleted and the ‘new’ word becomes accepted while its original is often forgotten

cello	–violoncello
fridge	–refrigerator
lunch	–luncheon
phone	–telephone
taxi	–taxicab
wig	–periwig

USING THE DICTIONARY

A dictionary, as we have seen, has many uses:

• defines the word
• gives the definition
• indicates the pronunciation
• shows the part of speech

Finding other uses

In the front of a dictionary you will find a list of abbreviations used and some notes on how pronunciation is indicated. There will also be a piece on etymology (the derivation of words) and this will show you how the origins of certain words are identified.

At the back of the dictionary you may also find the following:

• list of the chemical elements
• list of weights and measures
• temperature
• list of world monetary units
• Roman numerals
• countries of the world
• States of the USA
• rulers of England and the UK
• Prime Ministers of Great Britain and the UK
• Presidents of the USA
• books of the Bible
• days of the week and months of the year with their derivations
• signs of the zodiac with an explanation of it
• wedding anniversaries
• terms for some groups of animals and birds
• foreign words and phrases that have passed into our language.

The Oxford Popular English Dictionary published in 1998 also contains the following helpful information:

• some points of english usage:
  • Pronounciation
  • spellings
  • meanings
  • plurals
  • grammar.
  • Punctuation:
  • temperature

• Punctuation
  • apostrophe
  • colon
  • comma
  • dash
  • exclamation mark
  • full stop
  • hyphen
  • question mark
  • quotation mark
  • semicolon.

Looking at other dictionaries

The Oxford Dictionary in its entirety runs to 20 volumes and carries a comprehensive list of words. However, you can also find a number of specialised dictionaries which could be useful if you are studying a particular subject or are interested in language and how it has developed. Below is a list of some of the dictionaries you might find in your local library.

Dictionary of Jargon

Dictionary of Contemporary Slang

Rhyming Dictionary

Dictionary of New Words

Dictionary of Music

Dictionary of Chemistry

Dictionary of Physics

Dictionary of Biology

Dictionary of Art and Artists

Biographical Dictionary

Bible Dictionary

Medical Dictionary

Dictionary of Abbreviations

Dictionary of Foreign Expressions

Five Language Technology Dictionary (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish)

WIDENING YOUR VOCABULARY

You will increase your vocabulary by reading widely. Make a list of words you don’t understand and look them up. Remember to note the context in which they are used or you may become confused. Use them in your own writing or speaking as soon as possible.

CHECKLIST

• Many English words are derived from a number of differ languages.
• Foreign words and phrases are still us
• A dictionary gives parts of speech, pronunciation, definit and derivation.

PRACTISING WHAT YOU’VE LEARNT

• 1.Look up the following words and write down their derivation, part of speech and definition:
• 2.What do the following letters stand for