we are in despair to break the stumbling block. Thus, writer with limited words is at disadvantage. One of the illogical practices in widening vocabulary is to learn the dictionary by heart. It really makes sense, isn't it? Or it is?
Saturday 1 March 2008
Increase Vocabulary? What! Memorise the Dictionary?
Struggling to find an appropriate word in writing is like fumbling for keys in a darkness. At times, 
we are in despair to break the stumbling block. Thus, writer with limited words is at disadvantage. One of the illogical practices in widening vocabulary is to learn the dictionary by heart. It really makes sense, isn't it? Or it is?
we are in despair to break the stumbling block. Thus, writer with limited words is at disadvantage. One of the illogical practices in widening vocabulary is to learn the dictionary by heart. It really makes sense, isn't it? Or it is?
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2 comments:
Don't be surprised as some students tend to memorise words from the dictionary for their writing exams thus applying words that do not comply to the exact context e.g. "Mother 'medium' cooking" 'Medium' is mistakenly translated from the word 'sedang'..Another issue is, how far can the Malay-English dictionary help our students?
Real example from class today:
Which word is the best replacement for the word in parenthesis.
... "particulate" matter sink...
little? or minute?
students unanimously answered -> little
When they were told that the better option is the word 'minute', most of them had shown wrinkle on their forehead and almost spontaneously they said "but minute (pronounced as they normally do) is to tell time!"
I told them to look into the dictionary for the differences in meaning.
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