Lesson 11.ppt

Lesson 11 But Whats a Dictionary For? I. Aims and Contents of Teaching 1. the comprehension of the text and the mastery of the important language points 2. the paraphrases of certain complicated or difficult sentences I. Aims and Contents of Teaching 3. the enlargement of the students vocabulary 4. the familiarisation with the styles of composition and devices of figuration II. Procedure of teaching 1. Questions and answers 2. Analysis of the structure and language 3. Detailed study of the text 4. Supplementary and text-book exercises III. Background information Webster, Noah (Oct. 16, 1748 - May 28, 1843) American lexicographer and philologist, born in West Hartford, Conn. A Yale graduate. III. Background information His Elementary Spelling Book (the first part of the Grammatical Institute of the English Language) and The American Dictionary of the English Language established the nobility and vitality of the American Language. III. Background information He holds that the spelling and grammar of a language must be based on actual usage rather than artificial principles. And thus laid a foundation for the 20th century lexicography. III. Background information The Elementary Spelling Book, first published in the late years of the 18th cent., standardized American spelling and by 1850, when the whole population was under 23 million, was sold at 1 million copies annually. III. Background information The American Dictionary of the English Language, his greatest work, was published in 1828. Of the 70,000 words, 12,000 had not appeared in any other dictionaries before. Within one year, all the 2,500 copies issued in American and the 3,000 copies in Britain were sold out. III. Background information In 1840, the second edition was a failure and he had to sell the copy right to Merriam Publishing Company which thereafter became the Merriam-Webster Incorporation. Websters other contributions include efforts in the passage of a national copyright law, in the