1 Finding the right entry and meaning of a word Objectives Use part of speech information to find the right entry Use signposts to find the right meaning quickly Learn new meanings of familiar words Part of speech information The part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc) is given in the first line of each entry. It is also included in the online index. Words with the same spelling but different parts of speech are listed separately and given numbers. Short forms are used in the book. See page ii ofthe paper dictionary for a list of short forms used. Identifying parts of speech 1 Write the part(s) of speech for each word. Then check in your dictionary. Add any parts of speech you missed out. Word Part(s) of speech Word Part(s) of speech 1 attachment noun 5 traffic 2 attack noun, verb 6 safe 3 park 7 back 4 minute 8 fine Using part of speech to find the right entry 2 Using the context of the sentence, write the part of speech for each word in bold. Then find the correct entry in your dictionary and write it down. 1 He must pay the fine before next Thursday. noun fine 4 2 She will park her car there until the end of the game. 3 Most rooms at 4 star hotels have a safe for valuables. 4 The police uncovered his plan to traffic women to Europe. 5 Ahmed keeps his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. 6 Some of the writing in the contract is minute. 3 Using your dictionary, match the words (1 6) with their definitions (a f). Complete each definition with one word. 1 fine a to take someone to another country and them to work 2 park b small 3 safe c money that you have to pay as a punishment 4 traffic d at or in the of something 5 back e to put a car in a particular place for a of time 6 minute f a strong metal box or with special locks where you keep money page 1 of 3
Identifying the correct meaning of a word Many common words have more than one meaning, depending on the context in which they are used. Blue signposts in longer entries will help you to identify the correct meaning quickly. The shoot signpost shows how to use this word in relation to shooting an object. The job signpost shows how to use this word in relation to jobs. Using signposts to identify the correct meaning of a word 4 Using the blue signposts, choose the correct definition for the words in bold. Write the signpost for the meaning you have chosen. 1 The manager fired two young employees for frequently being late. job A to shoot bullets or bombs B to force someone to leave their job C to make someone feel interested in something 2 She attacked the politician by saying all his ideas sounded crazy. A to deliberately use violence to hurt a person B to start using guns, bombs etc against an enemy C to criticise someone or something very strongly 3 The company has at least one branch in every Australian city. A a part of a tree that grows out from the trunk B a local business that is part of a larger business C a group of members of a family who all have the same ancestors 4 If you are not careful, you might trip over the boxes on the floor. A to walk, run, or dance with quick light steps B to hit something with your foot by accident so that you fall C to switch on a piece of electrical equipment by accident 5 Juanita asked the dentist to make her teeth more even. A flat and level, with no parts that are higher than other parts B able to be divided exactly by two C calm and controlled, not extreme 6 In a crisis, Jessica can always keep a cool head. A low in temperature, but not cold B very attractive, fashionable, interesting etc. C calm and not nervous, upset, or excited page 2 of 3
Activating new vocabulary 5 Complete this story using only the words you have already looked up. After being 1 fired from his job, Phil had no money. He needed to pay a 2 for 3 his car on a double yellow line, but didn t have the cash. One day, he decided that stealing money was the only solution to his problems. So at night he went to the local 4 of a national bank and walked behind it to the bank s 5 entrance, which was only used by members of staff. When the last employee came out of the door, Phil grabbed her arm and shouted, Give me all your money! She did not scream. In fact, she was completely 6 when slowly replying, Ok, please don t hurt me. I m the manager. All of the money is in the 7, so we need to go there. Together, they went inside the bank. The manager opened the safe but at the same time she pressed a 8 button, which was too small for Phil to see. The button triggered an alarm, and when Phil heard the loud sound he ran away without taking any money. Unfortunately for Phil, the ground behind the bank was not 9, and while he was running away he 10 on a large stone. After falling onto his face, he looked up and saw two police officers standing over him. What next? As many words have more than one meaning, language learners often misunderstand familiar vocabulary. Focus on a word s part of speech and use your dictionary to check its meaning. When studying new vocabulary, pay attention to all of the common ways a word can be used. page 3 of 3
1 Finding the right entry and meaning of a word Teacher s notes Objectives Use part of speech information to find the right entry Use signposts to find the right meaning quickly Learn new meanings of familiar words Timing 35 50 minutes, depending on your students level and whether they are using the online or paper dictionary. Procedure Exercise 1 Timing: 5 10 minutes Students may be unaware that a word such as attack can be more than one part of speech. This activity familiarises them with how LDOCE presents separate entries for each part of speech. Ask students to do this activity quickly, without reading the entries in detail, as they will do this in the next activity. Depending on the level of your students, you may wish to explain that the words in red are the 9000 most frequent words, and that a word with different parts of speech will be presented with the most frequently used part of speech first. Note that minute used as a verb is blue, unlike the noun and adjective which are red. 1 attachment: noun 2 attack: noun, verb 3 park: noun, verb 4 minute: noun, adjective, verb 5 traffic: noun, verb 6 safe: adjective, noun, interjection 7 back: adverb, noun, verb, adjective 8 fine: adjective, adverb, verb, noun Exercises 2 and 3 Timing: 10 15 minutes The activities get students to focus on the parts of speech of words in a sentence and familiarises them with using knowledge of part of speech to find the correct meaning of a word in LDOCE. For Exercise 2, encourage students to focus on the context of the sentence to discover the part of speech and then use the dictionary to find the entry number. For Exercise 3, they will need the first definition in each entry. Depending on the level of your students, you may wish to point out that the pronunciation of some words changes for different parts of speech by finding and comparing the pronunciation of minute used a noun and as an adjective. Exercise 2 1 noun, fine 4 2 verb, park 2 3 noun, safe 2 4 verb, traffic 2 5 adjective, back 4 6 adjective, minute 2 Exercise 3 1 c, punishment 2 e, period 3 f, cupboard 4 a, force 5 d, back 6 b, extremely Exercise 4 Timing: 10 15 minutes Students are shown how blue signposts can help them to find the correct definition of words that have long entries and multiple meanings. Illustrate that words like manager and employee in the example sentence can lead them to the Job signpost and therefore the correct definition of the word. Remind students that all three definitions (A C) are correct meanings of the word, but only one is suitable for the context of the sentence. 1 b, job 2 c, criticize 3 b, of a business 4 b, fall 5 a, level 6 c, calm page 1 of 2
Exercise 5 Timing: approximately 10 minutes Students use the new meanings of familiar words that they have studied in the previous activities. Make sure they know they must only use words from this worksheet. Before students complete the gaps in the story, first ask them to recall which words they have focused on previously and then get them to skim the whole story quickly. You might need to add explanation and details for lower-level learners. 1 fired 2 fine 3 parking 4 branch 5 back 6 cool 7 safe 8 minute 9 even 10 tripped What next? Do Worksheet 11 with your students to learn more about frequency marking in the dictionary and how to use it to develop their vocabulary. page 2 of 2