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Laborious Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

The way dictionaries explain the meanings of a word is confusing, isn't it like that

Hi:

I'm trying to learn some vocabulary these days to improve my English. But I am facing some difficulties doing this.

When I look upsome word that is new for me, I find that there are many definitions/meanings given of that word. I get confused because almost all of those meanings are very similar. And then I start wondering how this meaning is different from that meaning of that particular word.

My question is that is there not any way to remove this confusion?

For example, I just looked up the word "stop", and almost every dictionary I found online showed a list of around ten to fifteen definitions of this word. All those definitions conveyed almost the same idea.



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Another thing is that what is the difference between "to not continue" and "to make somebody/something not continue", please?

  

Top answer

You need to reverse your process of learning new vocab. Instead of browsing through a dictionary, read and listen to acquire new words in context . , you can look it up in the dictionary.

— Teechr

  • You need to reverse your process of learning new vocab.
  • Instead of browsing through a dictionary, read and listen to acquire new words in context .
  • , you can look it up in the dictionary.
  • That way you have a much better chance of understanding it and retaining the meaning.
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4 Answers
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You need to reverse your process of learning new vocab. Instead of browsing through a dictionary, read and listen to acquire new words in context. Then when you encounter a new term, expression, phrasal verb, etc., you can look it up in the dictionary. That way you have a much better chance of understanding it and retaining the meaning.

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LaboriousAnother thing is that what is the difference between "to not continue" and "to make somebody/something not continue", please?

The first one is intransitive and the second is transitive.

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LaboriousAnd then I start wondering how this meaning is different from that meaning of that particular word.

Many words in English have a variety of uses and definitions.

The entries in most dictionaries are in order of frequency of use as well as part of speech.


You can also use a dictionary that gives example sentences for each entry. T

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Laboriouswhat is the difference between 1) "to not continue" and 2) "to make somebody/something not continue"

1)

Suddenly the music stopped.
We stopped for lunch in Redwood City.
On the way to the mall, the bus stopped three times to pick up and let off passengers.

2)
The enemy is approaching the city gates.

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