How to use your dictionary to build your vocabulary

The Canadian-English Dictionary. Over 500 sold. Not many Canadians, I think, eh? Just

joking. It's 500,000, and my name is James from EngVid. Welcome. I'm going to help you

today learn to use this thing and not this thing. And there's a reason why, and I'm going

to tell you why today because I think it's an important lesson that I don't see people

really talk about a lot. They -- in classes, and I teach classes, we mention it. And students

always come -- not always. Bad. You're so forward. They usually use an electronic dictionary,

but I prefer the paper because today I'm going to teach you how to build your vocabulary

using this, something that's a few hundred years old.

So let's start off: "Know your dictionary." Do you know what your dictionary -- do you

know who your dictionary is or what your dictionary is? I ask you because I'm going to ask you

do you know "prescriptive" versus "descriptive"? Most students don't know the difference, and

it's a very important difference for you to know. If you're a native English speaker,

this is your dictionary. It's good. It's great. It says things like, "'Choral' -- or of a

choir. 'Chorale': slow stately hymn tune", and you're thinking, well, if you're learning

English, "What did James just say to me?" There are many of these things. "'Retrench':

reduce expenditure, cut." You know, like, "What?" Well, this is because it's prescriptive.

"Prescriptive". Think of a doctor, you know, the guy who checks your chest, like, your

heart. He prescribed something to you, right? Gives you something. But he doesn't give you

any kind of extra information. He's the doctor. He's the expert. They tell you and you know.

Well, if you have a command of the English language or you speak English, of course you

know all the other words they use. "'Critic': Professional judge." I know all these words.

I don't have to learn these words, so it's great. But if you're learning English -- and

learning English -- and I want to tell you this because a lot of people don't know. You

know my name, right? My name is James ESL, right? James. I can't even spell my own name.

It's a lie. My name is James ESL. And some of you said, for sure, "What is "ESL? That's

a funny name." Because it's not my name. "ESL" stands for "English as a Second Language".

That's what it stands for. Many of your teachers use it, and they never tell you what it means.

So it means James is teaching English as a second language. And that's for you guys.

You have French, Hindi, Arabic as first languages, and you want to get another language. What

you need is a descriptive dictionary. What does that mean? Well, let me explain something

to you. There is a thing that is long, has a big head, a smile. It has little lines on

its body. Its first name starts with M. His last name starts with E. Do you know whom

I'm describing? It's Mr. E. Right? I described it to you. An ESL dictionary is descriptive,

right? So the first thing you should know is, is your dictionary prescriptive or descriptive?

"Prescriptive", like a prescription from a doctor -- it just tells you this is what the

word means. It does not give explanation -- it gives an explanation, but no diagrams and

no definition, okay? Or explanation. For example, a descriptive one not only tells you what

the world is, it gives you an example of its use in speech. It helps you. Maybe even a

picture to show you. That's for the ESL. So when you're looking for a paper dictionary,

go to your bookstore and ask for a descriptive dictionary because you're studying ESL, and

they'll give you the perfect dictionary for you, okay?

So what are we going to do next? That's the first thing: Know what dictionary you have

because this one will help. Now, I will tell you this, though: Once you start going from

the beginning and intermediate, you need the prescriptive because that's what a fluent

native speaker would use, and that's what you use. So there's a reason for both. Don't

forget that. If you're advanced, get prescriptive. If you're new, get descriptive. Know your

dictionary. Next. Does your dictionary use phonetic or

does it use syllables to tell you how the word sounds? "Huh?" Well, I investigated because

I'm like a reporter -- like Clark Kent, Superman -- and I discovered that not every dictionary

is the same. Some use phonetics, and they use the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some

of you have studied it in school, right? Where you have those funny little things, where,

you know, like the upside down E -- I can't even do it. I think it's like -- and it means

something to you people, okay? But in international language, you would use these symbols to show

language, right? They use this phonetic alphabet because they know it's international, and

people who study languages will also use it. But a lot of English dictionaries just use

syllables. They break the word down into, like -- sorry -- numb nuts? Number. Number.

And what they're looking for is vowel sound, not vowels. Don't make a mistake. I've often

done it and told students -- I say, you know, "When we use syllables we break it down to

units of a word with a vowel." And what I mean to say is "with a vowel sound" because

sometimes there will be two vowels, but they make a sound. For example, "ee" or "ei" can

make one sound, okay? And that can be in a vowel unit. So check to see if your dictionary

is either phonetic -- and that means you're going to need the International Phonetic Alphabet

-- or syllable-based, which means they will break the word into units with a syllable

sound. Easy? Is that understood? Let's move on, okay?

So that's something you're going to look at because this will help you build your vocabulary

because knowing what a word looks like and what it sounds like is very, very different,

okay? And this is to help you pronounce the word. Remember: Learning vocabulary is (1)know

when you see it, (2) know when you hear it, (3) know how to say it, (4) understand what

it means. Then you build vocabulary. And this is "know what it sounds like", okay? Next.

(C) What part of speech? Well, what is the word? I can spell less "beaty" like "Ned Beatty", but that's not what I wanted to write.

When you "beautify" something, it's not the same as "beauty". "He's a right beauty." "She's

a beauty." Right? They're different words. So we're asking ourselves, what, what do these

words do, right? "She's a beauty", so we're looking at an adjective and adverb. "Beautify",

adverbs do a different job than an adjective, right? So the dictionary will tell you how

to use it. Remember we said, "What does it sound like?" First part is, it tells you what

it looks like, right? It gives you the word, the word. The next one tells you what it sounds

like. The next one tells you how to use it, right? "That girl is a beauty." Or "What a

beauty she is." Versus, "We need to beautify our house." It's not the same. And you have

to know what part of speech to use it otherwise you'll use it badly, okay? Next.

We're going to go over to "other possible forms". So other possible forms are -- well,

let me correct something I made a mistake on. I said it. I made a mistake because I'm

human. I was so busy thinking about the mistake I made with "beauty" I said this was an adverb.

It's a verb. So I know you guys who love to catch me, you caught me. Ow, ow, bad teacher,

all right? It's a verb, all right? So we've got noun, verb. Now, let's go to "other possible

forms", okay? Now, what the dictionary will also do to help you is after it tells you

this is a noun or this is a verb -- noun, verb, okay -- it'll tell you other forms.

It might tell you, okay, you could do something "slow" or "slowly". Or you can have "pant",

which is completely different. "Pant" is [pant like a dog] and "pants", which I'm wearing,

but you can't see. You know, I am wearing them, trust me. I'm not doing it in my underwear.

E goes naked; I come clothed, okay? So it'll tell you other possible forms that you can

use of that word, right? Now, I've given you something to help you

with the dictionary, and this is fun. It's a nice, short lesson. I'm hoping it's going

to be very useful because even Canadians -- I say "Canadians"; I'm sorry, but a lot of English

speakers don't know how to use the dictionary because it's set up in a way they just kind

of look for the definition, and they don't know that these things are there to help them.

There have been words I've looked for where I've said, like, "discombooblate" because

I don't know it's "discombobulate" because I don't understand if it's phonetic or the

symbol -- syllable. I can speak English, really. And I had to learn when I started teaching

students. When they say, "Teacher, why?" And I go, "Well this is for this. This -- oh,

golly, it is." This is very helpful stuff, right? But before I go too far off course,

which means away from the subject, I want to give you some tips because this is good.

This gives you power like a super power. You can use this and go, "I can learn words without

the use of any other human being. Read, see, and hear." But how about we build, because

that's what the nature of this lesson is, to build our vocabulary. So let's go over

here. Ready? Tips. Tip No. 1: Look up words you

hear every day, and then look at the words above and below the word to understand prefixes.

This sentence makes no sense whatsoever. But it does because I'll explain it. What I mean

is, every day, when you're learning English, you're going to learn a new vocabulary word

or whatnot. And what I want you to do is take that word, write it down, then go home, open

your paper dictionary, okay? And then look at the word, but look at the word above and

below because -- I'm going to give you one right now. I'm looking here, and it says -- I'm

looking at "implore". It means "beg", which means to go, "Please, please, please, please

come back to EngVid and see James! Please! I beg you!" Okay? So "implore". Then, I look

down at "imply". Then, I look at -- it says "implicit". And each one I get the idea that

there's something inside. Then I realize "im" means "inside" or "in". Ooh. That was interesting.

So then, I start looking down and there's "impossible" and "importune", "impose", "impostor",

"impotent". I'm not impotent. Maybe the worm. He's soft, but not me. Anyway. Well, what

I'm saying is, all of these "im" words are in here, and I start going, "Oh, my gosh.

They all kind of have a similar meaning." It helps me build my vocabulary faster because

I learned what's called a "prefix". A "prefix" means -- "pre" is before -- something in front

of a word that gives meaning to the word or adds meaning to the word, right? And that's

what we're doing. We're learning it, so it helps me build my vocabulary by learning prefixes.

Kind of cool, huh? How about the second one? Let's go to the

monitor. He's going to talk again. Ready? Actually, it's not a monitor, it's Mr. E.

You've always wondered what I sound like, and yes, I have a sexy voice. So, the next

thing you want to do -- tip No. 2 is: Randomly -- "randomly" means not in order, just whenever

-- for 2 or 3, 2 or 3, and try to make sentences. What the heck does that mean? Well, Mr. E,

that's why I'm here. What Mr. E meant to say was this: Randomly take, take -- Mr. E -- 2

or 3 words, okay? I want to make sure you can see it because I'm running out of room

here. So I'm just going to put 2 or 3 words -- and try and make a sentence with it. So

I've got "word" -- S. See? Two mistakes. Are you happy now? Bad, bad James. Okay, look.

So look at randomly for 2 or 3 words. And just open up the dictionary, and you take,

"bloom", and then take "incentive", and then take "platinum". "As an incentive for my blooming

business, I got a platinum card." Oh, he teaches English. That's right. I do. What I'm saying

is you take two or three words randomly, right? And you try and make a sentence with them

using the rules you find from the dictionary. Is it a verb? Is it an adjective? Put them

in place. That will help teach you syntax. So here are two ways you can, by yourself,

use this book by yourself and work on your English, learn things that you haven't been

taught, and then prove or, as I said, build your vocabulary. Do you like that? Our little

moderator, Mr. E, that voice of his, will be back -- right? -- to help you build your

English vocabulary, syntax, conversation skills, grammar, and whatnot. I like that word. It's

my word of the day. Anyway. Thanks a lot. Mr. E -- out. Know your

dictionary, and know yourself, and you'll be victorious in every conversation you have.

Know only -- shut up with the Sun Tzu already. Okay.