There are times when a regular dictionary doesn't cut the mustard. For declensions and hyphenations and to sort out confusing words, tricky or obscure words, foreign words, or proper nouns, this little tome is most handy.
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198610403.do#.UXvYw8qyJlA
There are times when a regular dictionary doesn't cut the mustard. For declensions and hyphenations and to sort out confusing words, tricky or obscure words, foreign words, or proper nouns, this little tome is most handy.
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Some style guides specify the Oxford Dictionary, instead of Chambers. Although many of us now have access to the Complete Oxford Dictionary (and associated reference books) online, it often helps, if you are working on-screen, to spread things out by having a dictionary in book form on your desk or a side-table.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Dictionary-English-Dictionaries/dp/0199571120/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1366989455&sr=8-3&keywords=Oxford+english+dictionary http://www.collinseducation.com/titles/35221/collins-gem-latin-dictionary-second-edition-9780007224142
Even if you don't know any Latin and never use it, it can still come in handy to have a Latin dictionary of some sort. Generally speaking, the larger the dictionary the better, but I have a little Collins Gem. If you just need a synonym, an alphabetical thesaurs is fine, but for more complex language problems, Roget is better. This groups words by meaning, enabling you to look for a word that means what you want, without being too sure of the type of word you are looking for.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brewers-Dictionary-Phrase-Cobhare-Brewer/dp/0304318353
This book helps with idiom, proper nouns, and the background to why we say some of the things we do. It is a veritable treasure trove of interesting stuff. My edition is a little out of date, but I inherited if from my father-in-law, who was a literary sort. 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 My copy of The Chambers Thesaurus (no apostrophe, don't know why) is getting a little out of date, but it is clearly laid out and easy to use in a hurry. 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://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/ |
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