1. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
What exercise is to the body, reading is to the mind. There are different purposes of reading. One
of them is deriving pleasure. Children reading for their pleasure rarely stop to ask about the words.
They want to get on with the story. If the word is important, they can usually make a good guess
about what it is. "He drew an arrow from his quiver". Easy to see that a quiver is some sort of
gadget to put arrows in. More complicated words they figure out by meeting them in different
contexts. People learn to read well and get good vocabulary, from books, not work books or
dictionaries. As a kid I read years ahead of my age, but I never looked up words in dictionaries,
and didn't even have a dictionary. In my lifetime I don't believe I have looked even as many as
fifty words - neither have most good readers. Most people don't know how dictionaries are made.
Each new dictionary starts from scratch. The company making the dictionary employs thousands
of 'editors', to each of whom they give a list of words. The job of the editor is to collect as many
examples as possible of the ways in which these words are actually used. They look for the words
in books, newspapers, and so forth and every time they find one, they cut out or copy that
particular example. Then after reading these examples they decide from the context' what the
writer in each case had meant by the words. From these they make definitions. A dictionary in
other words, is a collection of people's opinions about what words mean as other people use them.
a. How do children find out meanings when they are reading for pleasure?
b. Does the passage suggest that a dictionary is essential for a good vocabulary? Why or why not?
c. Write any one step in the process of making a dictionary.
d. Define a dictionary in your own words.
Answers
a) Children who are reading for pleasure make a good guess about what the word means.
b) No, the passage suggests that a dictionary or workbook may not be necessary for improving the vocabulary. People learn to read well and get good vocabulary from books.
c) In the process of making a dictionary, the job of the editor is to collect as many examples as possible of the ways in which these words are actually used.
d) Dictionary is a collection of words arranged alphabetically that is used as a reference for spellcheck.
Answer:
a) Children who are reading for pleasure make a good guess about what the word means.
b) No, the passage suggests that a dictionary or workbook may not be necessary for improving the vocabulary. People learn to read well and get good vocabulary from books.
c) In the process of making a dictionary, the job of the editor is to collect as many examples as possible of the ways in which these words are actually used.
d) Dictionary is a collection of words arranged alphabetically that is used as a reference for spellcheck.