Gabriele Stein Book order

A student's dictionary of English confronts the learner with more than 50 000 words - an intimidating prospect. The present book shows that a few hundred word elements occur over and over again (affixes for instance like -ation, bio-, de-, -ize, -less, un-). Learning these - their individual meaning and how they combine - is a gigantic step towards understanding the many thousands of complex words of which they form a part. So a lexical item like bidirectionally will easily be analysed and processed as a combination of bi-direct-ion-al-ly, 'in two directions'. The inclusion and clear differentiation of affix synonyms and antonyms completes this new and systematic lexical treatment. A Dictionary of English Affixes thus constitutes a unique linguistic tool for vocabulary expansion as well as text comprehension and analysis. But in addition, the book will have a quite distinct and separate application in automated language processing. Gabriele Stein is professor of English language and linguistics at the university of Heidelberg. Her recent books include two studies on lexical description and vocabulary acquisition: Better Words and Developing Your English Vocabulary.

Extending your vocabulary is of vital importance as you improve your English. First, teachers need to ensure that their students master a core vocabulary of around 2.000 words as the basis for all subsequent lexical development. The book explores the valuable work that has been done over the past century in identifying in a principled way just which words should constitute a basic core. It then shows, in a linguistically consistent way, through a rich selection of topical examples, how the basic core can be differentiated and expanded into related lexical items. And finally, noting that there are many school and university subjects that have to be studied in English, the book provides an advanced common core vocabulary of some 4.000 items which can embrace a wide range of academic, professional and personal interests.