Finding words in the dictionary

Exercise 1. To find a word in the dictionary, you will need to know the correct spelling, especially the first two or three letters. If you can’t find a word, you may have the wrong spelling.

These words all contain spelling mistakes in the first two or three letters. What are the correct spelling?

1. fotograph 3. restle 5. brather 7. shure

2. sience 4. nife 6. tipical 8. accomodation

Exercise 2. The dictionary lists words in alphabetical order. Sometimes word is made of two words that are written separately (ice cream) or joined with a hyphen (role-play). In the dictionary these words are listed alphabetically as if they were one word.

Write these groups in alphabetical order.

1. Foggy (1) Nose (4) Unless (6) Kind (3) Guess (2) Skinny (5)

2. Vote (…) Scrap (...) Day-to-day (...) Tense (...) Forget (...) Slap (…)

3. Trunk (...) Thread (…) Trinket (...) Trade (...) Turtle (...) Trade secret (...)

4. Tan club (...) Flutter (…) Flashy (…) Fanatic (…) Fluffy (…) Floral (…)

Exercise 3. Some words are made of other words. For example, the adjective overwhelmed comes from the verb overwhelm, so it appears in the same entry (словарной статье).

The following words do not have separate entries in the dictionary. Which main entry would you go to find them?

1. Greatness great

2. Genuinely …………

3. Impatience …………

4. Encouragement …………

5. Anthropologist ………….

6. Transparently …………..

7. Uncertainly …………..

8. Critically ……………

Checking spelling

Exercise 4. Use the dictionary to check words if you are unsure of their spelling. Each of the following words has one letter missing. Correct the spelling. Look words up in the dictionary.

1. Boundry boundary

2. Brige ………..

3. Matress .……….

4. Forsee ……….

5. Accomodation ……….

6. Relable …………..

7. Disatisfied …………..

8. Forteen …………

Pronunciation

Exercise 5. Put the words below under the correct vowel symbol by looking in the dictionary to see which sound each word uses.

said need raw glue new bet field though boot seed soft clean dead mood true do eat next taught malt

[ J]	[e]	[P]	[H]
reed	said	raw	glue

Exercise 6. Put the words below under the correct consonant symbol, by looking in the dictionary to see which sound each word starts with.

kite night city cool noon knead pneumatic key science psychiatrist cyberspace cream color seal

[s]	[k]	[n]
city	kite	night

Exercise 7. Underline the correct pronunciation of these six words.

1. Chips [CIps/ CIpz]

2. Useful ['usfql/ 'jVsfql]

3. Blue [blqV/blH]

4. Gorgeous ['gLGqs/'grGqz]

5. Houses ['haVzIz/'haVsIz]

6. Sword [swPrd/sLd]

Exercise 8. There are many irregularities in English spelling. Words can sound the same yet be spelled differently. Find the pairs of words in these lists that rhyme.

1. Ball straight

2. Bread drum

3. Drain high

4. Laughter sneeze

5. Night crawl

6. Plate wrote

7. Tease after

8. Thumb plane

9. Try fed

10. Boat white

STRESS

Exercise 9. If a word has one or more syllables we put a stress on one of the syllables. In dictionary, the symbol /'/ appears before the main stressed syllable. Underline the stressed syllable in the following words.

1) decide 2) exciting 3) embarrass 4) explode 5) wonderful 6) responsible 7) spectacle 8) happiness

Exercise 10. Words may change their stress when they are used for different grammatical functions. Read these sentences and underline the correct stress pattern for the italicized words.

1. We keep a careful record of all expenses.

reCORD/REcord

2. You should really record the amount of money you spend in a month.

REcord/ reCORD

3. The weather was perfect.

perFECT/ PERfect

4. Scientists still have to perfect the cloning process.

perFECT/ PERfect

5. There has been a sharp increase in the car thefts.

inCREASE/ INcrease

6. Unless we increase our profits, the company will not survive.

INcrease/ inCREASE

7. You need a special permit to park here.

PERmit/ perMIT

8. They only permit employees to park here.

perMIT/ PERmit

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