551200: ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION
2010-2011 Semester II
N. Iwamoto
LECTURE 1: DICTIONARIES AND STYLE MANUALS
Thursday, 7 October 2010
DICTIONARIES
(1) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 1989)
22,000 pages in 20 volumes, 500,000 definitions, 2.5 million quotations, 1.2 m, 68 kg:
http://www.oed.com, http://www.oup-usa.org.
(2) The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 1999).
Over 240,000 words, phrases and definitions, 6.5 cm, 1.6 kg.
(3) The New Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 9th ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 2001).
140,000 entries, 5.8 cm, 0.7 kg.
(4) Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (Merriam-Webster Inc.,
Springfield, Massachusetts, 1993).
472,000 entries, 3,000 illustrations, 140,000 etymologies, 10 cm, 5.7 kg.
(5) Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts,
2003). 165,000 entries, 225,000 definitions, 40,000 usage examples, 700 illustrations, 4.8 cm, 1.5 kg.
(6) The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (Random House, Inc., New York,
1987). 9 cm, 5.1 kg.
(7) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (American Heritage Publishing
Co., Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2000). 6.4 cm, 3.5 kg.
(8) Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1984).
(9) Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1989).
STYLE MANUALS
(1) American Psychological Association, The Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, 6th ed. (American Psychological Association, Washington DC, 2009).
(2) Modern Language Association of America, MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd
ed. (Modern Language Association of America, New York, New York, 2008).
(3) The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (The Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2003).
(4) Webster’s Standard American Style Manual (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1985).
(5) W. Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA., 2000).
(6) R. W. Burchfield, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Revised 3rd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press,
New York, 2000).
(7) D. Hacker, Rules for Writers, 2nd ed. (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1988).
(8) Webster’s Compact Writer’s Guide (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1987).
(9) J. C. Hodges and Marty E. Whitten, Harbrace College Handbook, 8th ed. (Harcout Brace Jovanovich,
New York, 1977).
(10) Webster’s New World Secretarial Handbook, 4th ed. (Simon & Shuster, New York, 1989).
(11) Merriam-Webster’s Secretarial Handbook, 3rd ed. (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts,
1995).
(12) Random House Webster’s English Language Desk Reference, 2nd ed. (Random House, New York,
1999).
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
(1) AIP Style Manual, 4th ed. (American Institute of Physics, Woodbury, New York, 1990).
Free download site (total size: 4.71 MB): http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/toc.html
(2) Nature; Guide to Authors: http://www.nature.com/nature/submit/gta/index.html
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(3) American Physical Society; Information for Authors: http://publish.aps.org/INFOAUTH/msprep.html
(4) American Physical Society; Physical Review Style and Notation Guide: http://publish.aps.org/STYLE/
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WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY
Noah Webster (1758-1843)
American lexicographer and author
1783
Grammatical Institute of the English Language, part I
 Webster’s Spelling Book (Blue Backed Speller) Total estimated sale: 100M copies or more
1784
Part II (grammar)
1785
Part III (reader)
1806
Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
1807
Began work on larger dictionary
1828
An American Dictionary of the English Language (2 vols.)
2nd ed. (1840), 3rd ed. (1847), 4th ed. (1864)
1843
Rights to his dictionary sold by his heirs to firm of G. & C. Merriam Co. (founded 1831) of
Springfield, Mass.
1890
Webster’s International Dictionary
1909
Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition
1961
1964
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
A subsidiary of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1961)
more than 470,000 entries
200,000 usage examples
more than 1,000 synonym articles
3,000 pictorial illustrations
clear, informative etymologies
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2003)
165,000 entries
225,000 definitions
more than 40,000 usage examples
7,500 phrases and idioms
more than 700 illustrations
CR-ROM (70 MB), Free Website: www.Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com
dated entries
etymology < etymon + -logia –logy (14c)
etymon L. fr. Gk. Literal meaning of a word according to its origin, fr. etymos true; akin to Gk. eteos true
(1570)
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