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Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster Mass Market
May 1, 2010 / ISBN: 0877798567
Nonfiction/Reference/Writers Aid/ ESL Aid
Amazon
Reviewed
by Carolyn Howard Johnson
The Ultimate How-To Book Dictionary and a Whole Lot More!
When I was attending Book Expo America, I ran across this amazing
dictionary. I love it on so many levels, it's hard for me to control
my enthusiasm.
This dictionary was meant for English as a Second Language students-the
more advanced ones who already read English well. I occasionally
teach American culture, accent reduction, and English to students,
especially Asian and Armenian students, and am thrilled to have
something so complete (this book is a regular doorstop!) in English
for them to use as an aid. I hated having them refer back to translations
in their native languages.
Once I became more familiar with this dictionary, I became enthused
about it for writers. Here is just one example of how this it might
serve a writer better than the plain vanilla dictionaries most of
us are familiar with. Say the author is writing dialogue and wants
to make it feel more natural. He or she has an idiom in mind that
is better (more conversational!) than formal English. But it isn't
quite right (natural) for this particular character. Lo! The author
drags out this volume and looks up the keyword and there are several
idioms waiting for her to select the best one.
Of course, there are books of idioms that can do this for a writer,
too. But I like this one-stop dictionary. I also love that it uses
two colors. Black ink for the usual definition. Blue ink for the
sample sentences it gives. It also designates British pronunciation
from the American. Yes, at least a dozen more little tweaks make
this a useful dictionary-one that manages-somehow-to keep the magic
in English without pretending that it also isn't crazy and confusing!
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