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CougarWordStudy	Ms. Scott and Mrs. Sommers
Hungary Creek Middle School	Reading Web Page
http://henrico.k12.va.us/ms/hungarycreek/
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Welcome to CougarWordStudy, a site where you will learn and practice deciphering vocabulary!

Word Reference Skills:

Using a Thesaurus-
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/vocabulary.cfm?str=vocabulary&num=2&act=3&que=1

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Study Guide

At the end of this unit, you will be able to do the following:
1. List the 9 parts of a dictionary word.
2. Look up words in a dictionary and find specified information from list.

Using a Dictionary

As you know, there are several ways to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Your first reaction should be to look at the word itself for familiar word parts. Next, you should examine the context for clues. Third, you could see whether word origins such as clipping or combining might help you. Last, you would turn to a dictionary or glossary.

A dictionary is an entire book that gives information about the spelling, meanings, and sources of words. The words are listed in alphabetical order. A dictionary for students lists all the words that you would likely come across in your reading for school or enjoyment. A glossary is a much shorter dictionary. It appears within another book as at back of this text. It lists only words from the book.

You should be familiar with the following features of each entry.

Entry Word. Each word listed is printed in boldface, or heavy, letters. The breaks between syllables are indicated by spacing, dashes, or dots. Here is an example: glo.ry. The entry word tells you the correct spelling and where to break the word when it won't fit on a line.

Respelling. The respelling of the word appears next, usually in parentheses. It uses symbols that show how to pronounce the word

glo•ry (glôr' ë)

In the dictionary, the symbols are explained in a key at the front of every page or every second page. Boldface accent marks show which syllable gets most stress when you say the word. A lighter accent mark indicates a syllable with a lighter stress.

Part of Speech. Each entry word is used as at least one part of speech. The meanings in an entry are grouped by part of speech. The part of speech used most often is usually listed first. Notice in this example the additional information given about the part of speech:

glo~ry (glôr' ë.) n., pl -ries

The n stands for "noun." The pl. stands for "plural." The -ries shows that the plural form of the noun glory is spelled glories. To find the right meaning of a word, you need not read all the meanings in the entry. First determine the part of speech of the word in its sentence. Then look for that part of speech in the entry.

Word Origin. Some dictionaries give the word origin after the part of speech. Others give it at the end of the entry. It is usually set off by brackets. The abbreviations and symbols inside the brackets tell how the word came into English. The abbreviations and symbols are explained, usually, at the front of the dictionary.

glo.ry (glôr' E) n. pl. -ries {<OFr. <L. gloria}

The example shows that glory came from Old French, which took it from Latin. In Latin it was spelled gloria.

Definitions. The entry may list many definitions, or meanings, grouped by parts of speech. First find the part of speech you need. Then search for the meaning that fits best in the sentence you have read.

Read this information before doing the scavenger hunt.
http://www.mowyn.com/scavenger/refhints.htm

Complete the scavenger hunt.
http://www.mowyn.com/scavenger/dictionquiz.ht

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