G'day, how's it going mate? Today, I'm gonna talk about how you as an English learner should use an English dictionary wisely. The best situation is like you've already mastered all etymological patterns including prefixes, suffixes and word roots, in which case you don't necessarily need a dictionary. However, if it's not the case for you, then you should consult it when you're not sure what a word means. Let's get underway.

First of all, any English dictionary would be fine, but ideally the easier the definitions of words, the better, so that you don't have to look up a word within the definition in another dictionary. To avoid this situation and time, the dictionary you have needs to be the best one for you. I recommend purchasing Longman, Oxford learners, etc. Then, you don't need to stress out, right?

As it can be seen from the image of this blog, the definition of the word 'talk', for instance, is so useful. But how should we use this bunch of information wisely? Well, first, what you should do is to check the IPA phonemic symbol, like in this case "tɔːk". You're gonna make sure you pronounce it correctly, which is the first step. Then, you'll have a closer look at some definitions of the word, depending on situations and circumstances. Although you don't have to memorise them now, you just read them aloud to keep in mind. When it comes to the word "talk", there are 18 basic definitions plus 18 phrasal verbs, which are totally 36. Wow, such a lot of information! But, you don't have to be overwhelmed by the fact. Rather than being disturbed, you should use them wisely for your English learning.

What you should do is to use each phrasal verb for your self-talk, which is the best of the best method as I always emphasise. For example, as for "talk off the top of one's head", you can use this phrase in any situation, like, provided that you're asked/required to answer a specific question, you could say, "Well, I can't talk off the top of my head, because I need some time to prepare the appropriate answer for this interview". Something like that. You can say anything because it's just self-talk, so no one listens to you. Don't worry about anything at all, you should just be aware of the correct usage and oral fluency as well as a little bit pronunciation. That's all. If you continue to do so over and over and over again as your routine work, then your vocabulary and variety of expressions will be massive in near future for sure. Hang in there! Hang it easy mate!

Thanks for reading my blog. Have a great Sunday.