Homework Analysis 2

Paragraph One (Original):

The advantages of online dictionaries

Having looked at a number of monolingual print dictionaries in class this week, I have decided that such dictionaries are not for me. It is arduous to carry a print dictionary around because they are heavy and big, necessarily, because if they were not, there would be even less information offered. Using the internet, in comparison, is much handier and faster. It gives me the opportunity to check on the meaning of a word on various websites, for instance on blogs, in monolingual, bilingual and even picture dictionaries. The amount and variety of online dictionaries is huge, so it is possible for me to learn about the meaning of any idiom crossing my way, additionally I am able to ascertain synonyms, antonyms, collocations and the frequency of the word I searched for, in spoken and written English. In contrast to print ones, a lot of online dictionaries provide audio samples as well as phonetic symbols, so that I can be sure about the right pronunciation. We live in a constantly modernizing world and I want to change with the times, so I definitely prefer online over print dictionaries.

Paragraph Two (Correction):

The advantages of online dictionaries

Having looked at a number of monolingual print dictionaries in class this week, I have decided that such dictionaries are not for me. It is arduous to carry a print dictionary around because they are heavy and big. Using the internet, in comparison, is much handier and faster. It gives me the opportunity to check the meaning of a word on various websites, for instance on blogs as well as in monolingual, bilingual and even picture dictionaries. The amount and variety of online dictionaries is great, so it is possible for me to learn the meaning of practically any idiom I come across. Additionally, online dictionaries make it possible to find synonyms, antonyms, collocations and the frequency of a particular word in spoken and written English. In contrast to print dictionaries, many online ones provide audio samples as well as phonetic symbols so I can be sure about the right pronunciation of the words I look up. We live in a constantly modernizing world and online dictionaries adapt better to this world than print dictionaries do, which is why I choose to use the online versions.




Comparing the original paragraph and the corrected one, I can say that I have to be cautious when it comes to the right choice of vocabulary and that I should proofread my paragraph, in order to not give irrelevant information. Additionally, I have to try harder to write in a more logic way. Of course, I understand, what I am thinking when I am writing the paragraph, but it has to be comprehensible for everyone who reads it.
Every time I correct a paragraph, I learn something new or am reminded of mistakes that I tend to make, such as:
1) You do not check on something, you simply check it. You do not learn about the meaning, you learn the meaning.
2) Register is a very important part in writing. "Huge" and "a lot of" are too informal, a paragraph should be written in a neutral to formal language.
3) I should try to shorten some of my longer sentences, so as to make the paragraph more coherent.
4) "Ascertain" means "to discover", for example, the cause of something, or "to make sure of". You can find synonyms and antonyms in a dictionary, but to ascertain them does not make sense.