Home > Activities > Dictionary activities: Choosing the right word
Dictionary activities: Choosing the right word
Students frequently find themselves having to make difficult decisions about which is the correct or most appropriate word to use in a particular context or situation. They are confronted with choices about register and collocation and have to battle with the problem of words that may seem to be synonyms, but that in fact are used in different ways.
The activities in this section focus on the help that a learner's dictionary gives in these areas. Once students realize how their dictionary can help them to choose more confidently among the various options, they will be more inclined to make using it a part of their routine for choosing their words.
What's more usual?
A dictionary like the Oxford Elementary Learner's Dictionary will help students when they are confronted with choices about register. At the entries for words which are too formal for everyday use they will find a note giving them a more usual alternative. For example the entry for request includes a note: 'It is more usual to say ask (for).'
A simple matching activity will let students know that this extra help is available. On the board write a jumble of formal words with their more usual equivalents. For an example, see the link above.
Instructions on using the 'What's more usual' worksheet with your students:
- Ask students to look in their dictionaries to match the pairs of words and to write them side by side under the correct headings. A key is provided for your reference.
- You could make it into a race and give a prize to the first student or team of students to complete the exercise.
What's the missing word?
- Make a gap fill by blanking out some of the words of a text. In a box under the text, write pairs or threes of similar words, only one of which fits into a gap in the text.
- Students work in pairs to select the correct word and then put their choice in the appropriate gap. For an example, see the 'What's the missing word' worksheet.
- To make the activity more challenging you could give the groups of words in random order rather than in the order in which they appear in the text.
- If students have access to a word processor, they can prepare this kind of exercise themselves, for other pairs to solve.
Levels of formality
- Write up two sentences at opposite ends of the formality spectrum, such as 'Shall we commence?' and 'Let's get cracking.'
- Ask the class what they might say in a situation that was neither very formal nor very informal e.g. 'Shall we start?'
- Then ask them to look at the sentences on the 'Levels of formality' worksheet and, using the information in the dictionary about the word given in bold type, find the pairs which mean the same and link them with a 'neutral' version of the sentence.
Do they really mean the same?
Students can do a lot to increase their vocabulary by taking notice of the synonyms and opposites that are usually given in learners' dictionaries.
However it is important that they realize that different senses of a word may have different synonyms, and that these may not be interchangeable.
An activity like the one on the 'Do they really mean the same?' worksheet will make them more aware of the dangers of synonyms.
- Choose some words that have different synonyms for different senses.
- Give the words and two possible synonyms for each.
- Students must match the words with their two possible synonyms.
- Then for each word give two example sentences showing how the original word is used in different senses.
- Ask students to decide which of the synonyms could be substituted for the original word in each case.
- It is also worth pointing out that words are rarely 'true synonyms' and that they should be used with caution. For example in the activity provided while affect and put on, and agree and consent mean approximately the same thing, affect and consent are more formal words.
Related title
Oxford Elementary Learner's Dictionary
Source
Oxford Teacher’s Club:
http://www.oup.com/elt/teachersclub/articles/dictionary_topic3?cc=gb
|
