How to use a dictionary effectively
Remember:
- look up the meaning of a word you see or hear
- check the spelling of a word
- check the plural of a noun or past tense of a verb
- find out other grammatical information about a word
- find the synonym or antonym of a word
- look up the collocations of a word
- check the part of speech of a word
- find out how to say a word
- find out about the register of a word
- find examples of the use of a word in natural language
Remember:
- When you find a new word while reading, finish the sentence (better: the paragraph). If you haven’t guessed the meaning and it still seems important, then you can look it up.
- When you hear a new word in class (or the teacher has written it on the board), wait and continue listening. What the teacher says next may help you to understand the word. If you look in your dictionary, you will not hear what comes next, and this will make understanding the lesson more and more difficult. If you think the word is very important, you could copy it from the board or write how you think it is spelled. Then later you could ask the teacher or another student what it means