Some questions for native English speakers

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hurricane

#36113 Tue, 06 Jul 04 04:17 PM

This is not grammer questions, but I'm very curious to know for a long time, since it has no standard answers, please everyone participate, thanks!

A. How often do you see unknown words when reading or surfing online?

B. When you see an unknow word, what will you do?
1. You can easily guess the meaning according to the context or the spelling.
2. Just skip it, becauese it doesn't affect your understanding.
3. Look it up with dictionary(printed book, software or website).

C. If you use software or website dictionary, do you think if it is a must have for your computer? If yes, name the dictionary you use a lot.

hurricane

Joined on Sun, Mar 21 2004

New Member (11)

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anon1

#36125 Tue, 06 Jul 04 05:14 PM

Hi hurricane,

A) Rarely. But it does happen.

B1) I try to, but that doesn't always work.

B2) I rarely skip an unknown word. I like to learn new words; in fact, I keep a MS Word document on my desktop where I add new words that I have learned.

B3) Yes, I use two sources.

B3i) Dictionary.com. I have given you a hyperlink, but here is the actual link: http://dictionary.reference.com/

B3ii) Gurunet is a very handy software program. I can alt click on any word in any application, and, as long as I am connect to the Internet (which I always am), I can readily find out the meaning of any word. If I am using MS Word and I don't know the meaning of a word, I just alt mouse click it, and up pops the definition. If I am on the web and I don't know the meaning of a word, I just alt mouse click it.

(I have given a hyerlink to gurunet above, and here is the actual link: http://www.gurunet.com/home.jsp).

Plus, Gurunet has other reference stuff like arts and culture, business, food & nutrition, general reference, government, language, legal, leisure, medical, military, people, places, religeon and mythology, science and tech, shopping, sports, and zoology. Gurunet has won rave reviews. But it is a subcription based service at about $30 per year.

I hope that helps.

anon1

Joined on Fri, Jul 2 2004

Senior Member (2,049)

Nestor

#36136 Tue, 06 Jul 04 06:36 PM

Hurricane--

Another useful online dictionary is the Merriam-Webster site. It's free and only tries to sell you the print version. No spy-ware either.

A word of advice: always look up words you don't understand, even if you think you understand them. I heard 'epitaph' and 'epigram' get mixed up just yesterday.

Nestor

Nestor

Joined on Mon, Mar 29 2004

Greensboro, North Carolina, US

Junior Member (70)

Marco

#36139 Tue, 06 Jul 04 06:38 PM

You probably need a good dictionary.

Try www.babylon.com

It's a context dictionary, with a lot of glossaries available

Marco

Joined on Tue, Jul 6 2004

New Member (19)

Guest

#74256 Wed, 16 Feb 05 04:33 AM

Yes, that are what i want to ask you. Because, when i saw a unknow word i usually look it up with dictionary or printed book or software or website... but it have many many newword or unknow word, so that it make me bored with it because I can't remember all things.
I thougth a lot about learning E and I spend many time to learn E but in oder to improve it I feel very difficulte, I am not lazy but may be I haven't got a right method to study English.
I need all of you help me. Thank a lot.

Guest

Melanie

#74285 Wed, 16 Feb 05 07:21 AM

A: All the time

B: Usually, I would skip it and guess the meaning. But recently, I would choose to look up the definition through a website dictionary.
But it just makes me more upset, because looking up one word will end up looking for more words. They often use really difficult words to explain something. But I really think they shouldn't make things so complicated if possible; we already have little knowledge of English.

C: It's not a must but, I'd prefer to have one. I used to use Cambridge dictionary, but now I'll search for more than one dictionary for one particular word, to get a more better understanding of the word.
Now I like to use Dictionary.com.

By the way: I think this English Forum has helped me a great deal of improvement. I really like this forum. I'm happy to have found this website.

Although my english may still have mistakes, it has improved a lot already.
And people here are so friendly, questions are always answered.

Melanie

Joined on Sat, May 22 2004

New Member (27)

Casi

#74336 Wed, 16 Feb 05 11:32 AM

A. Rarely.
B. First, I look at how the word functions in the context; If I don't need the word to grasp the sentence's meaning, then I skip it; If I need to word, I look at the word's structure. I ask myself, "Is it a foreign word?" and "Is is a typo?"; If it's neither, I ask someone what it means, and if they don't know, or no one is around, I look it up in my dictionary (book). Online sites are great, but uploading often takes a second or two longer than flipping through my book.
C. It's not a must have, but Dictionary.com is tops on my list. It lists entries from a ton of sources. OneLook is the same, but it takes more time to open. (I need a faster computer.)

Casi

Joined on Sat, Sep 25 2004

Regular Member (547)