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Using Internet Dictionaries Activity Sheet
by Jonathan Smith This
activity sheet will help you investigate the features of some popular dictionaries
on the Internet. Print out the activity sheet and fill it out.
When you are finished, you can click here to
see the answers
.
Part 1: Features Chart In order to investigate Internet dictionaries, you need to try entering specific words to check the features of each dictionary. Click on the names of the dictionaries to go to their websites. Surf around and see how the dictionaries work. Then try to put in these three entries in each dictionary: direction , cream of the crop, and external viewer. On the chart, put an X by each feature that the dictionary has. For example, all dictionaries except for the Cambridge Online Dictionary have word transcription for pronunciation. |
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Dictionary.com
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Merriam-Webster
American English Dictionary
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One
Look Dictionary
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Cambridge Online Dictionary
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| word transcription |
X |
X
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X |
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| audio pronunciation |
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| thesaurus included |
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| at least one example sentence for
the word "direction" |
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| two or more example sentences for
the word "direction" |
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| gives definitions for idioms like
"cream of the crop" |
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| gives definitions for technical
or profession-specific terms like "external viewer" |
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Part 2: Answer these questions. 1. Which dictionary is best for learning pronunciation? 2. Which dictionary gives the most complete information about a word? 3. Which dictionary is best for learning about idioms? 4. Which dictionary is best for finding the meaning of technical or business words or phrases? 5. In your opinion, which dictionary is the easiest to use? Why? 6. Which dictionary is your favorite? Which will you use the most? |