English Vocabulary in Use Upper-intermediate » Unit 3: Using your dictionary

Word List
  • absorbing
  • bewitching
  • captivating
  • catch
  • deny
  • enchanting
  • enemy
  • engrossing
  • enthralling
  • entrancing
  • foe
  • gripping
  • hurtful
  • laugh
  • misplace
  • riveting
  • suggest
  • fascinating
  • friend
  • firm
  • supply
  • mislay
Exercises

3.1 ‣ Pronunciation. What English words are these?

  1. /edjʊˈkeɪʃən/
  2. /ˈpɑːspɔːt/ _____
  3. /ˈliːnɪŋ/_____
  4. /ˈlɪbəti/ _____
  5. /rəˈvɪʒən/ _____
  6. /ˈbrʌðə/ _____

3.2 ‣ Underline the stressed syllable of these words. Check your answers in your dictionary.

  1. unique
  2. elegant _____
  3. urgently _____
  4. eyebrow _____
  5. record (verb) _____
  6. thermometer _____
  7. extract (noun) _____
  8. lifestyle _____

3.3 ‣ Look at the grammar patterns which the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives for these words and then correct the sentences that follow.

  1. supply /səˈplaɪ/ ▸ verb [T] to provide something that is wanted or needed, often in large quantities and over a long period of time: Electrical power is supplied by underground cables. Ο Three people have been arrested for supplying arms to the terrorists. Ο The company has supplied the royal family(= provided them with something they need)for years. Ο At the beginning of term, students are supplied with a list of books that they are expected to read.
    Brazil supplies coffee at many countries.


    The officer supplied each soldier a map.
    _____
  2. deny /dɪˈnaɪ/ verb [T] NOT TRUE 1 to say that something is not true: He will not confirm or deny the allegations. Ο [+ that] Neil denies that he broke the window, but I'm sure he did. Ο [+ -ing verb] Neil denies breaking the window.
    The Minister denied to have received any money from the oil company. (two answers)
    _____
    _____

3.4 ‣ Circle the correct answer if these adjectives can be used about a person, or a thing (which could be an event, an object, a fact, an idea, etc.) or both. Use your dictionary if necessary.

  1. sad
    • person
    • thing
    • both
  2. lucky
    • person
    • thing
    • both
  3. content
    • person
    • thing
    • both
  4. damp
    • person
    • thing
    • both
  5. awkward
    • person
    • thing
    • both
  6. compulsory
    • person
    • thing
    • both

3.5 ‣ A typical dictionary abbreviation for a noun is (n) and for an adjective (adj). What do you think these abbreviations mean?

  1. (adv)
  2. (pron) _____
  3. (conj) _____
  4. (prep) _____
  5. UK _____
  6. noun [C] _____
  7. verb [T] _____
  8. noun [U] _____
  9. verb [I or T] _____

3.6 ‣

Over to you

Go to Cambridge Dictionaries Online at http://dictionary.cambridge.org, select the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and lookup the adjective damp. Click on the Visual Thesaurus. How many of the words do you know? Choose four words you don’t know and look them up. Record them in your notebook.
Answer Key
A ‣ What a good dictionary tells you: the basics

A good learners' dictionary (in book form or online) can tell you about:

  1. Pronunciation: this may mean learning some symbols which are different from the letters of the English alphabet.

    θth in thick
    ðth in then
    ʧch in church
    ʃsh in she
    ʤj m jam
    ʒs in pleasure
    ŋng in ring
    æa in bad
    ɒo in top
    ɔːor in form
    ʊu in put
    əa in about
    ʌu in up
    ɜːir in bird

  2. Word stress: often shown by a mark before the syllable to be stressed or by underlining or bold type, e.g. /əd'venʧə/, /westən/, complicated.
  3. Usage: how a word is used and any special grammatical pattern that goes with it, e.g. suggest + clause (not an infinitive) - I suggest you ring her right away.
    (NOT I suggest you to ring her right away.)
B ‣ Additional information

  1. Synonyms (words of similar meaning) and antonyms (opposites), e.g. mislay and misplace (synonyms), friend ≠ enemy/foe (antonyms).
  2. Collocations (how words go together), e.g. the adjective firm is often used in these collocations: firm commitment, furn grip, firm believer.
  3. Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive: catch is transitive and must have an object, e.g. He caught the ball and threw it back to me; laugh is intransitive and does not need an object, e.g. She laughed when I told her the news.
  4. Whether a word is used for people and/or things. In this entry for the adjective hurtful in the Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary online, we can see that hurtful can be used about what someone says or about someone:
    hurtful /ˈhɜːtfəl/ adjective
    causing emotional pain:
    That was a very hurtful remark!
    How can you be so hurtful?
  5. Word class (often as abbreviations n noun, adj adjective, etc.), and whether a noun is countable or uncountable.
  6. Information about how words are related to one another through meaning. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary online allows you to see a visual display of the networks of meaning for a word, as in this display for the adjective fascinating. The Visual Thesaurus shows related adjectives.

The adjectives are grouped according to meaning. This can be very useful when you are writing. If you want to vary your use of adjectives, you can look up the related adjectives to see which one(s) most closely express(es) the meaning you need.

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