When texts need polishing, it can be hard to think of the right word, the mot juste, if you will. At this point you need at least one thesaurus. My copy of The Chambers Thesaurus (no apostrophe, don't know why) is getting a little out of date, but it is clearly laid out and easy to use in a hurry.
http://www.chambers.co.uk/thesaurus.php
When texts need polishing, it can be hard to think of the right word, the mot juste, if you will. At this point you need at least one thesaurus. My copy of The Chambers Thesaurus (no apostrophe, don't know why) is getting a little out of date, but it is clearly laid out and easy to use in a hurry.
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http://scholar.google.co.uk/
Checking references without access to a university library used to be difficult, often impossible. But now it's so easy! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dorlands-Illustrated-Medical-Dictionary/dp/0721601464
For medical texts, I often need to look words up for their meaning, or decode abbreviations. This dictionary is good. It is also good for working out what goes where, when editing anatomy or nursing textbooks. http://translate.google.com/#la|en|
I don't like to let the fact that other people speak languages that aren't English put me off. On the other hand, I am too lazy to learn the other languages. Google Translate is current favourite for machine translation. It's not perfect, but it helps. WHO style guide
http://www.ianphi.org/uploads/resources/who_style-guide.pdf Today's paper was for a journal to be copyedited according to the WHO style guide. This is a comprehensive style guide, but there are lots of useful explanations for the unsure writer. Also, there is a PerfectIt set-up sheet to help, if you have invested in PerfectIt. http://www.amazon.co.uk/International-Websters-Comprehensive-Dictionary-Language/dp/1582795584/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361035274&sr=1-16
Being versatile, I also edit US English. For this, some version of Webster's is necessary. Mine is neither Morocco bound nor up-to-date but, being the Encyclopedic version, it does have lots of useful extra information; a list of famous people with dates, and a section of interesting quotations, for instance. http://www.oed.com/
One of the things I am fortunate to have is completely free access to the Oxford English Dictionary Online from my computer at home just by plugging in my library card number. Isn't that fantastic? My easiest authority on the German language is
http://dict.leo.org/ Today, when looking up the meaning of a word (okay, it was 'gerund'), I turned to my trusty copy of Chambers. Although no longer the official Scrabble reference, it's still my favourite dictionary. (Try looking up buckwheat. Unless you're from the States; it's a bit naughty.)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chambers-Dictionary-12th-Edition/dp/055010237X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360352348&sr=8-1 (Oh, look, there's a twelfth edition. I still only have the 11th.) http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198608813.do#.URPJWGc47gU
Everybody has words they can't spell, and then you are often wondering whether there should be a hyphen or not. For this, a good spelling dictionary is invaluable, and this one is recommended by the SfEP. It also includes indications of correct word division for soft hyphenation. |
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