Synopsis
The English language is growing, accelerated by the Internet, e-commerce and global business. It is used by one in five of the world's population, is being learnt by 1 billion people and is the language of 85 per cent of Internet home pages. Throughout the world, business people, tourists, students, teachers and first-time buyers of computers are confronted every day with new words and terms. The need for a manual to this dynamic language has never been greater. "The Encarta[registered] Concise Dictionary", compiled from the same database as the "Encarta[registered] World English Dictionary", is the result of an in-depth survey of professors, teachers, students and parents into the requirements and expectations of all English speakers in the 21st century.Consequently readers will find international coverage of global English, enhanced with innovative features such as: Quick Facts - short digests of key concepts in the arts and science; Literary Links - notes on major works of literature; Internet Guide on navigating and researching on the Internet; Spellchecks - warnings about spelling errors ignored by spellcheckers; Usage Notes - dealing with common queries on spelling and grammar; and, comprehensive coverage of high-technology, scientific and business terms. In addition to this, the "Encarta[registered] Concise Dictionary" provides an easy-to-use layout, 30 tables of key facts and dates, over 700 illustrations, maps and photos, and the reader's attention is drawn to commonly misspelt words.A unique Quick Definition system, with brief definitions in bold, enables the reader to pick out the appropriate sense at speed. "The Encarta[registered] Concise Dictionary" - designed to meet the everyday requirements of all global English speakers - is the first entirely new concise dictionary to be published for two decades. Language is a powerful tool. Read the new manual.
Review
Three major publishers have produced concise dictionaries of English in 2001. The Concise Oxford Dictionary; the Collins Concise Dictionary, and the Encarta Concise Dictionary all cover the same core material, give definitions that place the most common sense first, guidance on such things as how formal or informal a word is, and information on the origin of words. However, they all have different strengths. The Encarta Concise English Dictionary is particularly strong on American English and that spoken elsewhere in the world--it is the only one, for example, to tell you that "cheese powder" is an informal term in Hong Kong for grated Parmesan. It is also the only one to use illustrations: maps, photographs of the famous and drawings to illustrate things such as geometrical shapes which are much more easily explained through illustrations than words. It includes encyclopaedic information on people and places. It subdivides divides entries more than the others, giving separate entries for compounds formed from the same word. Some entries will also direct you to lists of synonyms or give warnings such as "Do not confuse cheap with cheep, which has a similar sound. Beware: your spell checker will not catch this error." The disadvantage of this is it makes a bulky book that is not easy to handle. This dictionary is a particularly good choice for those who are not sure of their command of English, or good speakers of English as a second language who want something more advanced than the Cambridge International Dictionary of English. --Julia Cresswell
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