Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 1

Photocopiable worksheet: dictionary skills practice

Exercise 1

Can you think of five different reasons why you need to use a monolingual dictionary? Get ready to call them
out when your teacher asks you.

Exercise 2

Look at the LDOCE dictionary entry for the verb know, and then complete the following information about the
verb.
1 It is in the top ———— most frequently spoken and ——— words in English.
2 There are —- ways of pronouncing the past tense of know.
3 The past participle is —————.
4 Look at entry 7 for know. Is the verb transitive or intransitive?
5 Look at entry 13 for know. Where is the phrasal verb and what is it?
6 There are ————- meanings for the verb know.

Exercise 3

Quiz! Below are 9 questions which ask you lots of different things about the dictionary. Good luck!

1 How do you spell the plural of ability?

2 Which number Signpost under active describes a volcano which is likely to explode and pour out fire?

3 What is the most common grammar pattern of the verb begin?

4 Is the word dead in the most common 3000 words both spoken and written? If yes, is it in the first, second
or third thousand?

5 How does the dictionary show the usages of habit?

6 Is the word just more frequently spoken or written?

7 Pepper pot is the British English word. What is the American English equivalent?

8 Look at the dictionary definition for senior (meaning 1) and then answer the following questions with a T for
True and an F for False.
a) this entry for senior is a noun
b) there is no grammar note on how to use senior
c) senior is in the 2000 most frequently spoken words
d) there are words that collocate with senior

9 Why is the verb take more common in spoken English than in written English?
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
1
Lesson plan: dictionary skills practice

Time 40-50 minutes

Level Upper intermediate/advanced
Materials Photocopiable worksheets and LDOCE
Aim To find out extra information about words in the dictionary

Exercise 1

Boardwork: Ask students why they should use monolingual dictionaries. As they call out the answers, write
them on the board. Make sure that you write the following reasons on the board if they don’t call them out:
1 To find out meanings of words - or whether there is more than one meaning for a particular word - by using
the definitions and the examples
2 To check spellings of words
3 To find out about the pronunciation of words
4 To see if there is any important grammar point associated with a word
5 To find out the different forms of a word (eg: adjective, verb, adverb etc)
6 To discover idioms (eg pull a face), phrasal verbs and American English as well as British English words
7 To find out information about written and spoken English
8 To see collocations of the word (explain collocations)
Show the students how LDOCE shows the above. Go through each point below with the class to make sure
they are all clear of the different ways the dictionary helps them:

1 Signposts - triangles denoting
a different meaning of the
same word
2 Information about plurals and
singular form
4 Grammar notes in square
bracket after words or in a
separate grey usage box
5 Information given about adj
and noun form etc
7 Graphs showing spoken and
written frequency of
individual words as well as
information in the definition
itself

3 Phonetic transcription as well 6 Phrasal verbs as well as

as stress syllable information idioms are listed after the
main definition
Exercise 2

Get students to turn to know, and divide them into pairs. Give them five minutes to complete as many of the
questions in exercise 2 as possible. Go through the answers with them aloud in class.
Answers:
1 1000/written
2 two
3 known
4 T (for transitive)
5 at the end of the entry; know of sb/sth
6 13 subentries, but 49 definitions or meanings

Exercise 3

Students do the quiz in pairs. If you have a prize, offer this to the students who finish first. Otherwise just get
students to work through as quickly as they can.
Answers:
1 abilities; 2 no 6; 3 begin to do sth; 4 Yes - the first thousand; 5 It gives 5 word choices: habit, custom,
tradition, practice and convention; 6 spoken (see frequency graph at just); 7 pepper shaker; 8 a) F -
adjective
b) F - shows it is only used before a noun c) F - the 2000 most frequently written words d) T - senior
pupils/senior officer/senior partner; 9 Because it is used in some common spoken phrases
Get the students who finish first to go through their answers aloud. Make sure that everyone is clear about
each one as you go through them.