Download Understanding Words

Understanding Words
At the end of this exercise you will:
• Have read some more history about dictionaries.
• Have looked at different kinds of words.
• Have practised using parts of speech .
Answers are on the last page of the exercise.
Page 1
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A Short History of
Dictionaries (3)
The Oxford English Dictionary was started in 1884. It is
the most famous dictionary in the world. The first
edition of the book was a Scotsman called James Murray.
He thought that it might take ten years to gather all the
words and their meaning together. After five years the
people writing the dictionary had only got as far as the
word ‘ant’. The finished dictionary, which had ten
volumes, was not published until April 1928. Mr Murray
had died thirteen years earlier. The Oxford English
Dictionary is updated all the time. The company
employs people all over the world who watch out for
new words and their meanings.
Write your own mini-dictionary.
Use words from a single subject, for example flowers or
food
A ---------------N ------------------B ---------------O ------------------C ---------------P ------------------D ---------------Q ------------------E ---------------R ------------------F ---------------S ------------------G ---------------T ------------------H ---------------U ------------------I
---------------V ------------------J
---------------W ------------------K ----------------X ------------------L ---------------Y ------------------M ---------------Z ------------------Page 2
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What kind of Word
(1 – Noun)
A dictionary will tell you what kind of word you are
looking up. For example is the word a noun, and
adjective or a verb? The correct term for this is parts of
speech. The parts of speech label usually comes after the
pronunciation information.
The word dictionary is a noun. A noun is shown in the
dictionary as n. For example, dictionary /’dik∫эnэri / n
(or noun )
A noun is a word that is used to name a person or a
thing.
There are four kinds of nouns.
Common nouns – the words for objects or creatures.
shoe
horse
plant
box
Proper nouns – words used to name people, places or
things.
Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.
Mary
Dublin
Ireland
Europe
Abstract nouns – the words for things we cannot see or
touch.
truth
warmth
home
love
Collective nouns – the words for groups of things
the public
a swarm of bees
majority
Page 3
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Look up the words, common, proper, abstract and
collective in your dictionary. Write out the meaning in
your own words. What kind of words are they?
What kind of
(2-Adjective)
word?
If you see adj. written after a word in the dictionary it
means the word is an adjective.
An adjective is a word that describes a noun.
For example:
She is a beautiful woman.
In this sentence, the word woman is a noun. The word
beautiful is an adjective describing the woman.
The room is warm.
In this sentence, the word room is a noun.
The word warm is an adjective.
Look up the following words in a dictionary.
Write the correct parts of speech into the table.
dictionary
book
difficult
table
new
sentence
word
short
Parts of speech (noun or adjective)
noun
Page 4
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What Kind of Word?
(3-Verb)
If the dictionary entry shows the letter v, it shows that the
word is a verb.
A verb is a word that says what a person or thing does.
Be run go drive
look
care
think
She is a beautiful woman.
In this sentence, the word is, is a verb.
The woman loves the man.
In this sentence the word loves, is a verb
Look up the following words in your dictionary.
Match the words to their correct parts of speech.
Dictionary
Take
Man
Cold
Country
Sunshine
Hot
Holiday
Wet
Go
Come
Noun
Noun
Adjective
Verb
Verb
Noun
Noun
Adjective
Noun
Adjective
Verb
Page 5
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Multiple Meanings
Some words have more than one meaning. A dictionary
will show the different meanings a word has by marking
each one with a number.
The entry for the word ‘book’ looks like this in the
dictionary.
book, noun, 1 written or printed work with pages bound
along one side. 2 work intended for publication. 3 bound
set of tickets, stamps, matches, etc. 4 Bible. verb, 1
reserve in advance. 2 enter in book or list
(The word book can be used as a noun and a verb. )
Look up the following words in a dictionary.
In your own words, write down two different meanings
for each word.
Farm
1. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
School
1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 6
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Answers
What kind of word – Nouns
All the words are adjectives, because they describe the
word noun – which is a noun!
What kind of word – Adjective
Dictionary – noun
Book – noun
Difficult – adjective
Table – noun
New – adjective
Sentence – noun
Word – noun
Short – adjective
What kind of word – Verb
Dictionary – noun
Take – verb
Man – noun
Cold – adjective
Country – noun
Sunshine – noun
Hot – adjective
Holiday – noun
Wet – adjective
Go – verb
Come – verb
Page 7
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