Painless Reading Comprehension - Darolyn “Lyn” Jones Ed.D. 2021

Deciphering the dictionary
Decoding versus reading

How many times have you asked your teacher what a word means and the teacher said, “Look it up!”? So, after you finally find the dictionary, you aren’t sure how to find the word and so you ask someone else in the class for help. Has this happened to you? Using a dictionary can be confusing, but it is an important and necessary skill that you will use forever. Even if you look online and not in an actual book, you still must understand what you are looking at. If you don’t know how to use a dictionary, finding the word can be difficult, and then when you do find the word, the entry can look like it was written in a foreign language.

Inside the dictionary

Look up an online dictionary, and follow along with me. I love Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster. And you can download these as free apps on your smart phone or computer. Follow along with me. In an online dictionary, you simply have to type in or speak the word you need defined for you, and it will appear.

Look at the following entry from Dictionary.com for the word decipher, which appears in the following sentence: Sheila deciphered the math problem by using the same method as the teacher had shown them in class.

Decipher

(de-si-fer)

Verb

1. To make out the meaning of (poor or partially obliterated writing, etc.)

2. To discover the meaning of (anything obscure or difficult to trace or understand)

3. To interpret by the use of a key, as something written in cipher

de•ci’pher•a•ble adj.

de•ci’pher•er n.

de•ci’pher•ment n.

Let me help you decipher the dictionary entry for decipher. After the word decipher, in parentheses, is the pronunciation guide: (de-si-fer). The word verb means its part of speech is a verb. And the numbers 1, 2, and 3 provide the definitions of the word. Below the definitions are other versions of the word that are commonly used. For your purpose of looking up the meanings or denotations of words, you will concern yourself with the part of speech, the commonly used versions of the word, and the definitions.⁸

PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech. Most of the words you look up will be nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. Remember, nouns are persons, places, things, or ideas; verbs are words that take action either in your head or with your body; adjectives give extra information about or describe nouns; and adverbs give extra information about or describe verbs. You need to know the part of speech so that you can identify if the word is the subject or object, if the word is tying the subject to an action, or if the word is describing. For example, since you know that decipher is a verb, you can look to see what is being deciphered, which helps you to understand that decipher is an action. When you look up the word, first see what part of speech it is and then reread the word in the sentence.

Versions of the word

The word you are looking up may not appear in the dictionary exactly as it does on your page. Make sure you are looking up the correct word by reviewing the different versions of the word.

Definitions

Finally, read the definitions. Often the first definition is the best definition because it is the most commonly used definition. But sometimes you will read a definition that simply repeats the word you are looking up, which doesn’t help! So you must read on until you read a definition that makes sense to you.

PAINLESS TIP

Tips on using the dictionary:

✵ Use the same text or online dictionary consistently to become familiar with the format in that dictionary.

✵ If you are using a textbook, look up the word in the glossary first because it will provide the exact meaning the author intended for what you are reading.