Looking Up Words In A Dictionary
advertisement
Looking Up meanings Before you start this, read the ‘How To Use A Dictionary’ sheet. Use a dictionary with this worksheet. Look up the meanings of these words in the dictionary: A - D alphabet ............................................................................................................................................................... breakfast ............................................................................................................................................................... cargo ............................................................................................................................................................... diesel ............................................................................................................................................................... E - M exit ............................................................................................................................................................... February ............................................................................................................................................................... gate ............................................................................................................................................................... husband ............................................................................................................................................................... ivory ............................................................................................................................................................... jellyfish ............................................................................................................................................................... kennel ............................................................................................................................................................... low ............................................................................................................................................................... macaroni ............................................................................................................................................................... continued N - Q naughty ............................................................................................................................................................... orchard ............................................................................................................................................................... paw ............................................................................................................................................................... quiz ............................................................................................................................................................... R - Z ramp ............................................................................................................................................................... scent ............................................................................................................................................................... tissue ............................................................................................................................................................... under ............................................................................................................................................................... vain ............................................................................................................................................................... weasel ............................................................................................................................................................... yolk ............................................................................................................................................................... zero ............................................................................................................................................................... Discuss your work with a tutor and decide what you need to work on next. LOOKING UP WORDS IN A DICTIONARY Words With Different Meanings Before you start, read the ‘How To Use A Dictionary’ sheet. Words you need to know Noun: a word that tells you the name of someone or something - if it is a real name such as Tom or London, it is a proper noun. Verb: a word (or group of words) that tells you what is happening in a sentence, sometimes called a ‘doing’ word. You need to think about the job the word is doing to find the right meaning in the dictionary. Some words have more than one job! Here is an example: To make perfect custard, just add boiling water. The words in bold are nouns. Custard is always a noun but water can be a verb, as it is in this sentence: I need to water the plants. Read this story from the ‘Newham Echo’: Henry VIII is coming down for a good clean after years of hanging around in London’s National Gallery. The picture, a copy of a wall painting by the artist Holbein, once belonged to the family of one of Henry’s six wives. It is one of the most popular pictures in the gallery. Underline the nouns in the story. Read this letter from the ‘Echo’: Dear Editor, I would like to thank the kind person who handed my bag to the driver of the 10 bus from Stratford on Wednesday, 26 April. I left it on the seat and I had got off the bus before I realised what I had done. I am very grateful. Underline the verbs in the story. Ask a tutor to check this. continued Look up the following words in a dictionary. Tick the box on the grid to show if they are nouns, verbs - or both. The first one is done for you. Word London water dictionary seize switch race spell match dishwasher television Noun Verb Noun and Verb Choose three nouns that have different meanings when they are used as verbs. You can use three from the grid above or find three examples from the items from the ‘Echo’. 1 Word ............................... Meaning as a noun ................................................................................................... Meaning as a verb ................................................................................................... 2 Word ............................... Meaning as a noun ................................................................................................... Meaning as a verb ................................................................................................... 3 Word ............................... Meaning as a noun ................................................................................................... Meaning as a verb ................................................................................................... If you need to know more about nouns, verbs and other parts of speech, discuss it with your tutor who may recommend further work. Discuss your work with a tutor and decide what you need to work on next. LOOKING UP WORDS IN A DICTIONARY Thinking About What Words Mean Before you start, read the 'How To Use A Dictionary' sheets. Before you look up a word, think about what it means so it's easier to find the right meaning (the definition) in the dictionary. This worksheet will help you do this. Sometimes you will know what a word means when you know what it says. You can 'read in' these words using the first couple of letters. There will be some words that are new to you and these are hard to guess! You will need to remember what they look like and what they mean. First, find something interesting or useful you want or need to read. You can use this worksheet for this it you want! Pick something that has a few words in it that you do not know. Roughly one word in ten is about right. You will need something that it's OK to write on, such as a newspaper article, a worksheet or a photocopy of a page from a book. Write down the title (if there is one) or topic, and a sentence or two on what you think it is about. For instance, if it's a page from a book you are reading, you might want to predict what happens next. (See pack 12 for more practice.) Title/topic ............................................................................................................................................................... What it's about .................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. Scan the whole text (what you are reading) and underline any words you do not know. (See pack 10 for more practice.) Skim the text so that you have a good idea of the ground it covers. (See pack 10 for more practice.) continued Read all of it steadily. Look carefully at the words that are underlined. Can you 'read in' what they might mean? Look for clues: the first couple of letters a capital letter to show the word is a name of something. Write down the words you can have a good guess at by 'reading them in'. ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. Do you need to look up any of the words? These are words you need to know to help you make sense of what you are reading. Write down the words you need to look up: ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................. For each word, think about what it might mean. Here is an example: The Football Association has launched a campaign to stop the exodus of around 7000 referees a year which has caused a shortage of officials at football's lower levels. The sentence is about the FA's problems caused by the lack of referees. The reason for this is to do with the exodus of referees from the game. What would cause a shortage? It might be that lots of referees are leaving - so exodus might mean something like departure or leaving. Look it up to check. Exodus means ............................................................................................................................................................................. Write down a word in the sentence that means the same as officials. ............................................................................................................................................................................. This is an example of a word you can 'read in'. continued Now, write down the words you want to look up (use your list above), what you think they might mean (don’t worry about the spelling - this is to get you thinking about the meaning) and what it says in the dictionary (the definition). 1 Word .............................................................................................................................................................. What it might mean ........................................................................................................................... Dictionary definition ........................................................................................................................ 2 Word .............................................................................................................................................................. What it might mean ........................................................................................................................... Dictionary definition ........................................................................................................................ 3 Word .............................................................................................................................................................. What it might mean ........................................................................................................................... Dictionary definition ........................................................................................................................ You will find that some of the words will be new to you and some you will know as soon as you find out what they are from the definition in the dictionary. Write the new words you want to learn in your file. Check over them until you can read them straight away when you see them. Use each new word in a sentence to show you understand what it means. Now read through the whole of the text again. Do you understand it now? Were you right about what you thought it would be about? Discuss your work with a tutor and decide what you need to work on next.
