Language: phonics and word knowledge
Using a dictionary and a thesaurus
Find a word by alphabetical order and guide words, read what its entry tells you, and use a thesaurus to find a better word.
A dictionary tells you what a word means. A thesaurus tells you what else you could have said instead. They sit side by side on the shelf and they answer completely different questions, and knowing which one to open is half the skill.
Alphabetical order goes letter by letter
Compare the first letters. If they match, compare the second. If those match too, compare the third, and keep going. That is why patient comes before patio: the first four letters are the same, and at the fifth, e comes before o.
A shorter word comes first
Pack comes before packet, and pack before packing. When one word is the beginning of another, the shorter one wins, because it simply runs out of letters first.
Guide words save you the search
The two words printed at the top of a dictionary page are the first and last entries on it. If your word falls between them alphabetically, it is on that page. If it does not, turn on without reading a single entry.
One entry, several meanings
Many words have numbered meanings. Read them all and pick the one that fits your sentence — "trunk" is part of a tree, but in "the trunk would not shut" it means a large travelling case.
A thesaurus gives you choices, not answers
Look up "big" and you may be offered large, enormous, vast and gigantic. They are not identical: an enormous mistake and a large mistake do not feel the same. Choose the one that fits the strength you mean.
Have a play
One entry from a dictionary page, with every part of it drawn as a block. Find out what each part is there to tell you.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
Is the word "planet" on a page with the guide words "plain" and "plate"?
Compare planet with the first guide word, plain: pla-n against pla-i. N comes after i.
So planet comes after plain, which means it is not before the start of the page.
Try it together
Let us use one dictionary page.
The page has the guide words "garden" and "gather". Every word on it falls between those two.
1.Would you find the word "gas" on this page? Answer yes or no.
Have a go
Which comes first in a dictionary, "shine" or "ship"? Write the word.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.