Module 13: Small and Medium Enterprises in ASEAN
Table of Contents
Language Focus
Language Focus 3: Understanding dictionary entries
Dictionaries are available both in print and online. A dictionary in print is one of the earliest examples of information which is structured in a manner designed to be searched alphabetically. At present, online dictionary services are free and user-friendly, and with cross-reference between a dictionary and a thesaurus have given way to great convenience on the web.
Online dictionary
Oxford Dictionaries Online contains the 2.3 billion words from Oxford English Corpus of 21st century English, and each word sense in the dictionary is linked to a set of sentences.
Running an online search
- Type the words or phrases in the search box in the center left of the home page and at the top of every other page of the dictionary.
- Click
or press Enter. - A list of results is displayed, or, if there is a single result, the entry is displayed automatically.
- Click on any of the results to open its entry.
However, a quick search will find your term if it is a main entry, subentry, or variant spelling. The quick search will not recognize a misspelling. If you do not know how to spell a word, you can use an advance search.
Example:
(Source: http://public.oed.com/how-to-use-the-oed/key-to-symbols-and-other-conventions/ retrieved 23/5/2014)
In Oxford Dictionaries Online, the pronunciation given is by speakers of standard English in Britain and the United States. It includes the most common variants for each word. The keywords given are to be understood as pronounced in such speech.
The symbols at the beginning of a syllable indicate that syllable may be pronounced with primary stress (ˈ) and/or secondary stress (ˌ). As in the first syllable of the 3-syllable word enterprise en¦ter|prise, the symbol ˈ at the beginning of the syllable identifies that the first syllable is pronounced with primary stress/ˈɛntəprʌɪz /.
A typical main entry provides the following information:
(Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/enterprise?q=enterprise retrieved 1/5/2014)
Here are some dictionaries that are widely used:
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Cambridge Business Dictionary Online
The kinds and amount of information in a dictionary may vary. It is important to choose the dictionary that meets you particular needs.
Cambridge Business English Dictionary Online
(Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/ retrieved 22/5/2014)
Cambridge Business Dictionary Online http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/ gives thousands of examples from real business texts, helpfully presented information about grammar, and there is a strong emphasis on collocation. Most of the words in the dictionary have a business subject label, such as Marketing, Finance, or Computing. These labels make words on a particular topic easy to identify and give you information about what aspect of business unfamiliar words belong to. In addition, you can hear the words spoken online with thousands of British English and American English recordings.
Key features
- Focus on spoken English, informed by the Cambridge Nottingham Business English Corpus, helps users speak confidently and naturally in business situations such as meetings and conference calls.
- Illustrations include both images and graphs and diagrams that illustrate complex business ideas and theories.
- Extra Help pages emphasize cross-cultural business communication and useful information such as world currencies.
- Focus on Vocabulary boxes give additional information about near-synonyms and theme-related vocabulary, helping you make the right word choice every time.
- Topic Boxes give extra information about particular business topics as diverse as budgets, business jargon, share options, internet security and work-life balance.