From the SATEFL newsletter, Vol. 21 No. 3, Spring 2002
Michael Rundell, Editor-in-Chief and Gwyneth Fox, Associate Editor (Macmillan Education)
This is a new dictionary for advanced learners that includes more than 100,000 references with 30,000 idioms and phrases and over 1,000 illustrated words. The words you need most are highlighted in red for easy reference and marked with one, two or three stars according to frequency of usage. Clearly marked in red at the right hand edge of the pages is the alphabetical index making it very quick and easy to find the entry required. Long entries are broken up into quick menus to help the user find the required meaning quickly. The definitions are clear and simple and feature only words from the 2,500 most commonly used list. The example sentences are real-life spoken and written sentences taken from the World English Corpus and show exactly how and when the word is used. Information about collocation is shown in bold and followed by an example sentence. American and British English usage is clearly indicated. There is guidance to help avoid common errors and show how a word is used. Some entries show synonyms, antonyms and related words.
There is a very interesting Language Awareness section in the centre of the dictionary. Here you can find up-to-date information on topics such as academic writing, business English, metaphor and computer words. There are pages of clearly labelled, coloured illustrations of housing, the office, clothing, transport, plants, animals, sports and games. At the front of the dictionary there is a page showing entries that are numbers, e.g. '4WD', 'the $64,000 question'. At the back of the dictionary is a list of the defining vocabulary with a note about their selection.
This is an up-to-date dictionary based on real usage collected in the World English Corpus. It is available in three editions – International British, International American and British English. The CD-ROM allows you to listen to correct English and record, play back and practise your pronunciation as well as to create your own instant lessons.
Helen Johnston-Morris, ESOL Group Tutor, Fife Community Services
Reproduced by kind permission of SATEFL Newsletter