Chapter 5

Looking Up Words

We recommend using Webster's Talking Dictionary CD with the contents transferred to hard dirve. The definitions are many and very complete. Access is almost instant and always present, while your CD ROM Drive is free for other use.

We also enable words to be looked up with The American Heritage Dictionary, which is nowhere near as good as Webster's, but is often provided free. However, the simplicity of these definitions often make them good for young children and ESL students.

In addition, we enable words of either dictionary to be pronounced with the built in Macintosh synthesizer.

To Look Up the Definition of an Individual Word and Hear It Pronounced while Reading Proportionally

Press "enter"; scroll up or down if necessary so that desired word is in window; press "enter" again. You will hear the word pronounced three times in a row. As you hear the word pronounced, the dictionary will appear. Type: Command+v to paste the word into the dictionary lookup section. Then press "return" to have the word looked up. After you hear the word pronounced and see the definition, click back on the Proportional Reading window to activate this window again. Now press "enter" again to continue reading.

Repeat the sound of the word as often as necessary until you can speak in resonance with this sound. To do this click on the WordPerfect widow to make it active if necessary and then type: F15.

Notes: When you are finished reading the definition of the word, close the dictionary application; type Command+q. Alternatively, you can leave the dictionary open. This will speed up definition retrieval. If you choose to leave the dictionary open, it is a good idea to open a blank WordPerfect document to hide the dictionary while you are reading in the PR window. Note: if you don't close the dictionary, you will have to click on the PR window to make it active again.

Operating Definition/Pronunciation Program from Pause in PR

You can also look up a word from pause. To do this, follow the directions below.

Pause the Proportional Reading Program and Scroll to the Word You Want to Look Up.

Click twice on the word you wish to look up to select it or drag your mouse across just the part of the word you wish to look up. Then press F14. You will start to hear the word pronounced three times. The dictionary will also appear. Paste in the word by typing Command+v and then press "return". The definition will appear. If you don't want to select the word, type: Command+r. This command only works correctly if there is just one word on the line or you wish to look up the first word on a line.

Recording Looked Up Words from Pause

If you want the word recorded at the end of the vocabulary file as well as pronounced: Pause pr program if it is running. Scroll to word if necessary. Type: Shift+Option+Command+r. Alternatively: pull down Macro menu to "ad) Word/Record & Look Up". Note: this program only works on the first word on a line or if there is just one word on a line. It is designed primarily to be used while reading silently with PR.

Before being looked up the word will be typed onto the end of the vocabulary word list on your hard disk. Then you will hear the word pronounced.

Note: You must first create a file called "Vocabulary" on your hard drive. Recorded vocabulary words are stored in this file in order of storing, with the latest addition last on the list.

To Hear an Individual Word Pronounced while Reading a normal page of text

Select the word and type: F15.

To Also See Definition while Hearing a Word Pronounced

Select the word first by double clicking on the word or dragging your mouse across part or all of the word. Note. You must actually see the word selected before you press F14 or the dictionary won't activate with this approach. You will hear the word pronounced three times. Once the dictionary appears, Press Command+v to paste in the word and then press "return" to see the definition.

Reviewing Vocabulary List with Vocabulary Program

At any time you can open up your vocabulary list and review vocabulary words on this list. Click on a word and then type F15 to hear it pronounced out loud. Alternatively, select the word and Type: F14 to activate both the pronunciation and dictionary sequence described above.

Using Vocabulary Program on Any WordPerfect Document

At any point you can look up a word in text and hear it pronounced. Select the word by clicking on it. Type F15 to hear the word pronounced. Alternatively, press: F14 to activate the dictionary sequence described above.

Note: Typing Command+r is used for looking up any word in a pr window. Selecting the word is done automatically by going to the left margin and selecting the first word. This is possible because there is never more than one word on the screen at a time. If you use this command on regular text you will look up the left most word. This is why you select the word, copy it, and type F14 to look up words on regular WordPerfect text.

Using Vocabulary Program on Any Word in Any Document

To look up any word in any document regardless of the word processor being used, select and copy the word by double clicking on it, or dragging on it, and pressing Command+c. Then pull down the Apple menu to "a2 PR" and then select "a2) Pronounce Any Word alias". You will hear the word pronounced. To see the definition pull down the Apple menu to "a7 Dictionary alias". The dictionary will activate. Paste in the word and press Return.

Hearing Any Word in A Voiceless Dictionary Pronounced

Many dictionaries are available now on hard drive, but have no accompanying voice. These dictionaries are often specially edited for children or speakers of English as a second language. By using the technique just described, essentially any word you are looking up or which you find in a definition can be pronounced and repeated.

Clicking Once On a Word as You Read a Full Page of text and Hear it Pronounced

As you read regular text in WordPerfect you can click once on a word and hear it pronounced. This enables you to be in charge of which words you hear pronounced as you read. Each clicked word is pronounced once. You can say the word with the computer. Then try saying it alone by yourself. The same word can be clicked over and over if desired. Each time the word is clicked, the voice will be pronounced once.

To do this, you actually go into a special program which continues until you exit it. Each time you click on a word it will be pronounced and then the computer will wait for you to click on another word. This will continue until you click back on the document to activate WordPerfect (if necessary) and type Command+period (.). Doing this cancels the program. Important: Do not fail to exit properly or you will stay paused in a repeat loop. Other programs won't work correctly until you exsit this macro (or close WordPerfect).

While in pause, between clicking on words you can look up the definition of a word if you want. Remember, you are still in the "Click and Pronounce" program.

To get into the program you must be in WordPerfect. Type: Command+F8.

To exit the program click on the WordPerfect document to activate it and type: Command+period (.).

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