The Magical Dictionary Tour
hindrance hindring
subscription abonnement
literally bokstavelig/
bokstaveleg
A dictionary is an important tool in learning a language. But as with any
tool you have to learn how to use it properly, otherwise it won’t be much
help. It might even become a hindrance. Ask your teacher! He/she probably has some anecdotes about pupils’ dictionary errors.
English-Norwegian/Norwegian-English dictionaries are readily available
online, both free ones and ones that require a subscription. (Your school
probably provides access to dictionaries through its web site.) This means
a dictionary is always close at hand. Good online dictionaries are easy to
use. You simply type in the word you are looking for and suggestions are
given for possible meanings in the other language. But from then on you
are on your own. The dictionary doesn’t know which meaning is the
right one in the context; that’s up to you to find. Imagine, for example,
you come across the word seal in the following sentence: Police decided
to seal off the area. If you type in the word seal, you will most probably
be presented with four choices:
seal (verb) sette (sitt) segl på, besegle, forsyne
seal (noun) segl, forsegling, plombe(ring), oblat
seal (noun) sel, kobbe, selskinn
seal (verb) drive selfangst, fange sel
From the context you can see that the sentence is probably not referring
to fish-eating animals. Also, if you know a little bit of grammar, you can
see that the word has to be a verb. That leaves only one alternative: sette
(sitt) segl på, besegle, forsyne.
But you’re not there yet. Also within this single entry, there can be many
shades of meaning. If you click on the entry above (seal), the dictionary
will give you many different shades of meaning. They are all related to
the same main meaning (besegle, sette segl på), but they require very different translations. Verbs can often be used figuratively – i.e. in a way
that isn’t meant to be understood literally, but rather as an image. So, for
example, to seal a contract, means, not literally, to put a seal on it, but
rather to decide, to reach an agreement. Further down, the entry gives a
number of expressions using seal in this main meaning. One of them is
“seal off” – the expression we are looking for, meaning å sperre av.
Online dictionaries give instant results, but that doesn’t mean that
you should be in a hurry. On the contrary, it is wise to spend time reading
the results of a search thoroughly.
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Chapter 1 Starting Out
Finding the meaning of words is not the only thing a dictionary can help
you with. Many online dictionaries also have little sound files that tell
you how a word is pronounced, usually in both British and American
English. This is very useful, for, as you will have discovered, spelling is
not always a good guide when it comes to pronunciation in English.
aCtivity
Look up import, export and transport in your dictionary. Can you see any difference between the way the noun and the verb are pronounced?
Look up fast in your dictionary. List the various meanings and then write a
meaningful sentence in which you use at least three of them.
Look up the word bow in the dictionary. How many basic meanings do
you find? Are they pronounced the same?
Find out what the following phrases mean:
– To take the wind out of someone’s sails
– To wind someone up
– To put the wind up someone
– To break wind
Was wind pronounced the same here?
You should know about another word resource that can be useful to you:
a thesaurus. A thesaurus is a book that shows words with their synonyms
or words of related meaning. If you look up a word like “pleased”, for
example, a thesaurus will be able to suggest other words like satisfied,
happy, joyful, merry, blissful etc., and expressions like on top of the world,
over the moon, happy as a lark, etc. So a thesaurus is a useful tool for helping you vary your English. But remember: the words listed will often have
different usages and associations from the word you started with, so you
need to make sure (by checking in a dictionary) that the word fits the
context. Like dictionaries, thesauruses can be found free online.
Chapter 1 Starting Out
37
aCtivitieS
Now the time has come to put your dictionary skills
to the test. Make groups of three or four. Each
group should have access to a dictionary, either online or in book form. The group should stay together for the whole tour.
The tour is a bit like a treasure hunt (rebusløp).
You can do the tasks in any order. (In fact, your
teacher might like to assign each group a different
order, so that everyone is not doing the same thing
at the same time.) The first group to complete the
entire tour and report back to your teacher is the
winner.
interactive activities:
www.access.cdu.no
4 anSwer the FOllOwing:
Explain why a “sleeper” might be found both above
and below the rails?
Which meanings can you find for the noun “stake”?
Which meanings can you find for the verb “court”?
5 learn the COrreCt prOnunCiatiOn
(inCluding StreSS) OF the FOllOwing
SentenCe:
The colonel gauged the lieutenant’s behaviour with a
surreptitious glance.
The sentence must be read out in chorus to your
teacher!
1
Find and COlleCt three OF the
FOllOwing thingS:
– A piece of gravel
– A cone
– Something that a person interested in mycology
would like
– A mollusc
– Foliage from a deciduous tree
2 Find Out the FOllOwing thingS:
– How many estate cars are there in the teachers’
car park?
– Where should pupils muster if the school is
engulfed in a conflagration?
– What is the penultimate day of the first school
term?
3 Find the engliSh wOrd/eXpreSSiOn
FOr the FOllOwing:
–
–
–
–
–
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en pipekonsert
spekemat
å spenne muskler
å dekke (på) bordet
å gå dukken
Chapter 1 Starting Out