Stewart Clark (Assistant Professor)                                      May 2003              

Tel work: +47 73 59 52 45,  fax +47 73 59 52 10                                       E-mail: stewart.clark@adm.ntnu.no

 

BOOKS FOR YOUR DESK

My notes in blue, prices checked in 2002

 

·        Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (2000) (lists a lot of tricky spellings in English, French and Latin). Price NOK 230.

 

·        Dictionary of Collocation (2002) comprehensive list of words that are used together – word partnerships. Oxford University Press.

 

·        A Handbook for Writers of English. Punctuation, common practice and usage (2002) How to Books, Oxford.  Price NOK 210  

 

·          How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (1998) 5th edition, Robert Day. Price NOK 215

 

·          Fundamentals of Technical Writing (1995) P. Robinson. Price NOK 270

 

·        Getting Your English Right (Stewart Clark), Tapir, Trondheim  Second edition, (2001), price NOK 348

 

·        Word for Word (2003) Stewart Clark and Graham Pointon, Oxford University Press International, adapted version of ‘Getting Your English Right’.

 

 

SELECTED ENGLISH-ENGLISH dictionaries:

·        Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2000) good value for this updated classic – a must. Price NOK 198.

 

·        Macmillan English Dictionary (2002). New work designed for  advanced learners of English.

 

·        New Penguin English Dictionary (2000) modern edition. Slightly more advanced than Oxford Advanced Learner's (NOK 210).

 

·        New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) an author­itative work on the English language. For advanced users. (NOK 430).

 

 

RECENT NORWEGIAN-ENGLISH dictionaries:

·        Stor engelsk-norsk ordbok. W.A. Kirkeby, Kirkeby Forlag, Skedsmokorset,  (2003) at NOK 695

     (2 volumes, Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian)

 

·        Engelsk stor ordbok. Kunnskapsforlaget (2001) at NOK 998 (both Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian, over 200 000 terms)

 

·        Bedre engelsk forretningsspråk. (Einar Hansen) 2000 edition.

Excellent guide to economic English terminology. Cost NOK 278

 

 

RECENT ENGLISH-NORWEGIAN dictionaries:

·        Stor engelsk-norsk ordbok. W.A. Kirkeby, Kirkeby Forlag, Skedsmokorset, (2003) at NOK 695

     (2 volumes, Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian)

 

·        Engelsk stor ordbok. Kunnskapsforlaget (2001) at NOK 998 (both Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian, over 200 000 terms)

 

·        Stor engelsk-norsk ordbok. Cappelens (1998). Cost: NOK 798

      (over 260 000 terms)

 

·        Engelsk-Norsk teknisk ordbook. (Jan Prestesæter), Kunnskapsforlaget (2002)

 

Electronic versions of many of these can be ordered from http://ifinger.com

 

 

ONLINE ENGLISH-NORWEGIAN, NORWEGIAN-ENGLISH dictionaries:

Recommend 'Clue' (Latest version is Clue Maxi 5.0)

Note that Clue also has a medical dictionary

 

 

 

 

DICTIONARY USE

 

Getting the most out of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary

 

1.      Division of words, shown in the Oxford by "dots".

          Divide words according to where the stress is put.

          tech.nol.ogy      tech.no.logical

          DIVIDE:               therapists

                                      legends

 

 

2.      Pronunciation/stress

of all headwords is shown in phonetic transcription (lydskrift). Most dictionaries give a list of the sounds used in the phonetic transcription on the inside cover.

Where American English differs from British English, this is shown:

          eg. (knew /nju  AE: nu/).

Stress patterns are also given: a'nalysis, ana'lyse (BE), analyze (AE)

           

 

3.      Spelling

Problem spellings are shown,

          eg. the past tense (occur...(rr),

              (defy...(­ied),    (analysis...(pl. analyses)

          Most dictionaries give BE/AE spellings: (Centre, AE = center)

         

 

4.      Countables/Uncountables

All nouns are marked (C) (U).

                   Experience        (C) event, activity, delightful experience.

                   Experience        (U) process of gaining knowledge

                                                or skill.

 

 

 

 

 

5.      Idioms

Look up bee to find what a bee in your bonnet means. 

Few idioms can be translated directly and if you really want to speak and understand English correctly you must pay attention to idioms, and find out what they mean.

 

n     A bird in the hand is worth ten on the roof sounds like nonsense to a non-Norwegian speaker. What is the correct idiom?

n     A bird in the hand is worth…

 

 

6.      Style indicator

informal, slang, vulgar words are indicated. Polite formulas are given: Your Excellency

 

 

7.      Sample sentences

examples of current use,

eg."Through.. (telephon­ing)

(a) (BE) connected: I will put you through to the manager,

          (b) (AE) finished: not wishing to continue the call.

 

 


THESAURUS USE

 

Using Roget's Thesaurus to find the correct word    

 

I have already recommended this as the synonym book of the English language, however it is not all that easy to use at first.

 

After finding that you have used a word too much, it is not quite the ideal word for your concept, or whatever, the first step is to locate that word in the index in the back.

 

Suppose "control" is our problem word. In the index we find the different meanings/ ways to use "control":

 

          be able,

                             influence,

                             comparison,

                             manage­ment,

          governance,

          rule

          restrain

                             spiritualism

 

As "management" is closest to the area we are interested in, we then look this up in the main section of the thesaurus. As we want a verb, we concen­trate on "Vb manage".

 

In this case there are 29 different alternatives to choose between:

 

          "manipulate, manoeuvre, pull the strings, influence..."

 

 

and suddenly, the word that we have been searching for...

          "administer".