New Concept English Self-Study Dictionary (Volume 1, Volume 2)

Author: Tang Yijun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-06-01
Features: This book divides the treatment of the text into four parts:
(1) Intensive Reading ()
It elaborates on the linguistic difficulties encountered in the text, guiding readers to summarize, generalize, compare, and analyze similar linguistic phenomena, thereby cultivating self-learning skills for beginners. Detailed comparisons are made between the characteristics of English and Chinese, identifying their similarities while emphasizing their differences. The book analyzes common errors frequently made by Chinese learners. For example, it compares key prepositions such as under/beneath/below (under…), across/through (through), with/by/in (with, by, in) (in, towards), and provides a detailed explanation of the "with" structure. It also elaborates on the special meanings and usages of common verbs like do, have, make, take; provides an in-depth analysis of near-synonyms such as include/contain (include, contain), put on/wear/dress (wear, dress), find/find out/discover (find), cost/spend (cost), turn on/open (open).
(2) Key Structures ()
Guided by grammar, the book clearly explains grammatical structures using simple and easy-to-understand concepts and examples, with a well-organized hierarchy. It focuses on analyzing and comparing the connections and differences between various grammatical phenomena, identifying their similarities and differences to ensure accuracy in usage. The book repeatedly explains grammatical structures that are difficult for Chinese learners to understand and master, such as articles, participial structures, and the subjunctive mood. It provides detailed comparisons of easily confused grammatical points such as the present perfect tense and the perfect continuous tense, the future simple tense and the future continuous tense, the future simple tense and the "be going to" form, would and used to, restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses, and present participles and gerunds. It also thoroughly introduces the usage and precautions of coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, connecting adverbs, and relative pronouns.
(3) Special Difficulties ()
It helps readers solve problems related to synonyms, homonyms, homophones, phrasal verbs, and various special sentence patterns. The book clarifies the differences between synonyms such as travel/journey/trip/voyage (travel), steal/rob (steal, rob), job/work (job), and linking verbs like grow/get/turn/go/come/fall (grow). It also explains special structures such as too…to, enough to, the form object it, and there is/there is.
(4) Supplementary Written Exercises ()
The book analyzes the answers to exercises from the perspectives of grammar, syntax, morphology, linguistic thinking habits, and cultural traditions, pointing out why answers are correct or incorrect to help self-learners understand the reasoning behind them. It provides necessary supplements for important sentence structures, grammar, and morphology not covered in the text. The book also includes a sufficient number of examples to enhance comprehension. It conducts detailed comparisons and analyses of similar grammatical phenomena, synonyms, and near-synonyms, forming mutual reference and supplementation with the "Intensive Reading" and "Special Difficulties" sections. The book also provides special reminders for exercises that Chinese learners are likely to answer incorrectly and for answer choices that may seem plausible but are actually incorrect.
The New Concept English Self-Learning Dictionary is designed in accordance with the teaching principles and characteristics of the New Concept English series, which proceeds from simple to complex and gradually builds knowledge. The book abandons traditional translation and annotation methods, systematically guiding readers to seek the laws of learning and using English, providing a shortcut for self-learners.