Think of a dictionary as a horrifically wordy bank of...erm...words. It's a place for words to be catalogued, ordered, and defined. That's what it does. So why oh why oh why, do we get this scenario:
"I don't know how to spell this word. I better search for it in the dictionary".
No. That's wrong. To find a word in the dictionary, you need to be able to know how to spell it. So therefore, if you don't know how to spell a certain word, you're probably going to run into a bit of trouble when it comes to finding it. Yes, admittedly, if the bit you're unsure about is towards the end of the word, you'll find it easier, but that doesn't change the fact that you're just doing 'dictionary' wrong. I remember countless times in primary school being told to search for a word in the dictionary if I didn't know how to spell it, and it drove my little brain mad. To be honest, it just made me think that the teacher didn't know how to spell the word themselves, so they threw at me any tool that looked (to a stupid kid) like it could potentially be of some use. It's incompetence. As a teacher, your job is to teach me, and if you can't satisfy the demands of what, a silly little 6 year old child? You suck. It'd be like going to a garage because your car has a problem with it's engine. You engage in conversation with one of the mechanics, only to find that actually, his recommendation for you is that you spray the engine with de-icer and hope for the best.
"It's related to a car, so hopefully they'll believe me when I tell them it'll work. Oh, and spray it yourself."
To me, this scenario is much the same as:
"It's related to words, so hopefully you'll believe me when I tell you it'll work. Oh, and find it yourself."
I feel as though I have a point. Grrrrrrrrrr, screw you, teachers. However, do not screw your teachers. This isn't Waterloo Road. This is real life, and bloody hell does it have a lot of crap to show us.
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