HOW TO CHOOSE DICTIONARY?

HOW TO CHOOSE DICTIONARY

MOSTLY PEOPLE GO TO DICTIONARIES FOR THE MEANINGS AND SPELLINGS OF THE  WORDS .BUT THERE IS A GREAT DEAL TO BE FOUND IN A GOOD DICTIONARY .IT CAN HELP YOU TO PRODUCE GOOD ENGLISH. IT IS YOUR BEST FRIEND IN THE QUEST TO INCREASE YOUR COMMAND OVER WORDS. ALWAYS BEAR IN MIND, THAT BIGGEST IS NOT BEST FOR YOU.THE LARGEST DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH IS OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.IT FILLS 20 SUBSTANTIAL VOLUMES OF TIGHT PRINT AND IS A MAGNIFICENT WORK OF SCHOLARSHIP .
IT GIVES OVER 19 PAGES ON THE VERB FORM OF THE WORD SAID ALONE . IT WILL ALSO TELL YOU A GREAT DEAL ABOUT VARIANT SPELLINGS USED , SAY , BY 15 CENTURY SCOTTISH POETS . ALMOST ALL DICTIONARY WITH A SECTION AT HE BEGINNING TELLING HOW TO USE THEM . WHEN YOU GET HOME WITH YOUR NEW PURCHASE OR NEXT TIME YOU TAKE IT DOWN READ IT'S INTRODUCTORY SECTIONS . THEY WILL GIVE YOU A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION . SOMETIME YOU MAY HAVE TO THINK LITTLE WHEN DECIDING WHICH HEAD WORD TO TURN TO . THERE ARE FEW EASY RULES TO HELP YOU HERE - THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS FULL OF IRREGULARITIES AND YOU WILL FOUND YOURSELF DEVELOPING AND INSTINCT FOR WHERE TO LOCATE WORDS .SO BEAR IN MIND THAT THE SAME WORD OR WHAT APPEARS TO BE THE SAME WORD - CAN BE HEAD WORD FOR TWO OR MORE QUIET DIFFERENT ENTRIES . TAKE THE WORD LEAGUE IN THE BOOK AND FILM A TITLE 20000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA . CLEARLY IT INDICATES SOME KIND OF MEASUREMENTS IN DISTANCE . THE PROBLEM HERE IS THAT THERE ARE TWO WORDS SPELT  LEAGUE EACH WITH A QUITE DISTINCT ITYMOLOGY AND SET OF MEANINGS . IN MORE DICTIONARY SOME WORDS THAT SOUND AND ARE SPELT THE SAME BUT HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS ARE GIVEN- SEPARATE ENTRIES . A SIMILAR GROUP IS' HOMOGRAPHS'- WORDS OF THE SAME SPELLING BUT DIFFERENT PRONUNCIATION SUCH AS 'TO ROW '[ A BOAT ] AND TO ROW [ WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR ] . THESE ARE ALSO TREATED SEPARATELY .

EACH DICTIONARY HAS IT'S OWN SYSTEMS FOR SHOWING PRONUNCIATION . STUDYING THE INTRODUCTORY SECTION EXPLAINING THIS . MOST DICTIONARY FOR NATIVE ENGLISH- SPEAKERS STILL USE SOME KIND OF RESPELLING SYSTEM . IN SUCH A SYSTEM THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORDS  ARE MADE TO LOOK AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE LIKE NORMAL SPELLING PATTERN . ALL BRITISH DICTIONARIES GIVE THE PRONUNCIATION IN RP[ RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION, ROUGHLY BBC ENGLISH ] . SOME ALSO INDICATES THE GENERAL AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION . SOME DICTIONARIES - PARTICULARLY THOSE FOR FOREIGN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH , BUT ALSO AN INCREASING NUMBER OF THOSE FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS - USE THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET TO SHOW PRONUNCIATION . THIS IS A SPECIALLY DEVISED SET OF SYMBOLS THAT CAN BE USED TO SHOW EXACT PRONUNCIATION IN ALL LANGUAGES . IT IS CERTAINLY THE MOST ACCURATE AND FLEXIBLE SYSTEM . THE ONLY TROUBLE IS THAT IT USES SEVERAL SYMBOLS UNFAMILIAR TO THE GENERAL READERS , AND CAN TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO LEARN . MANY DICTIONARY WILL GIVE YOU GRAMMATICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD YOU ARE LOOKING UP. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT IN.