Dictionary Skills - How to Choose Meanings (PCM Method)

The PCM Method is very easy. Some words have more than one meaning. When you look up such a word in the Macmillan English Dictionary [MED], look for a sample sentence with the same grammar pattern and similar collocates. This will help you find the correct meaning.

1. pay

2.6 These are my friends now, Dad ... And they're going to help me pay back [the buzzard] who bushwhacked you! That's a *PROMISE*!

None of these five meanings fits. The patterns and collocates are wrong.

pay back (2) is just right: same pattern, same collocates

PATTERN: pay [somebody] back = VB + [N] + ADV

COLLOCATE: them ~ buzzards (= bad guys)

MED: She was determined to pay [them] back for the trouble they had caused.

MEANING: to do something bad to someone because they have done something bad to you

2. happy

4.4 I get a lump in my throat when I think of the happy [years] when Dad and I lived back of the sheriff's office!

Meaning (3) has the right pattern and the right collocates

PATTERN: happy years = ADJ + [N]

COLLOCATE: a happy marriage/childhood/life (these nouns all refer to time)

MEANING: making you feel happy, or showing that you feel happy

3. case

6.5 Now, Bunco ... I'm paying you off for back-shooting my Daddy!

No! No! I didn't do it! ... Honest! Cade done the shooting! *I SWEAR HE DID IT*! I only stood by in case of trouble.

 

In case of (=if there is) bad weather, the wedding will be held indoors.

PATTERN: in + case + of + [N]

COLLOCATE: trouble ~ bad weather (things that make people unhappy)

MEANING: If there is [N]

4. know

2.5 {Now I know why you made me learn to shoot!}

know what/why/who etc.: None of us really knew what had gone wrong.

PATTERN: know + WH (who/what/when/where/why/how) + sentence

COLLOCATE: you made me learn ~ [something went wrong]

MEANING: to have information about something, or to understand something

Writing a 50-word summary (Part 2) （英文閱讀、語言學必看）

In Part 1, I showed you how to make a long summary by saying a little about each page. In this posting, I will show you how to make your summary shorter. If your first summary is too long, you can take away some sentences and words. If your summary is now too short, you can put back a few words or find new, better words.

Here is yesterday's summary:

Summary	# of words
When Lil Peters was a little girl, her father made her learn to shoot	14
When she went to college, she could shoot better than many men.	12
One day, Lil learned that her father was killed by a bad guy.	13
Lil promised that she would find the man who killed her father.	12
Garson Cade and Bunco tried to kill Lil with dynamite.	10
Lil was very smart, so she saved herself.	8
She then took out her guns and went to find the bad guys.	13
Lil found out that Garson Cade was the killer.	9
This summary is much too long!	91

Summary	# of words
Lil Peters could shoot better than many men.	8
One day, Lil learned that her father was killed by a bad guy.	13
Garson Cade tried to kill Lil with dynamite.	8
Lil saved herself and went to find the bad guys.	10
Lil found out that Garson Cade was the killer.	9
Now the summary is a little too short	48

Summary	# of words
Lil Peters could shoot better than many men.	8
One day, Lil learned that her father, a sheriff, was killed by a bad guy.	15
Garson Cade, a gambler, tried to kill Lil with dynamite.	8
Lil saved herself and went to find the bad guys.	10
Lil found out that Garson Cade was the killer.	9
Now the summary is just right!	50

Dynamite is not important, but I know that her father's job is important. The sheriff told the gambler to leave town, probably because he cheated many people. 

  This explains why Garson Cade killed Lil's father.

Writing a 50-word summary (Part 1) （英文閱讀、語言學必看）

寫摘要其實很容易！如果你選的故事有6頁，每一頁寫兩句話而每句話平均5～6個字，一下子可以寫72個字。經過刪刪減減之後，就可以輕輕鬆鬆地改成50個字的摘要。

1 Reread your story. What important things happened on each page? Write two sentences about those pages. If there are 5 or 6 words in each sentence, you can easily write 10~12 words per page. If there are 6 pages in your story, you can easily write 60～72 words (5 or 6 x 12 = 60 or 72).

2 When you finish, look at all of your sentences. Maybe some things are less important? Maybe you can put two sentences together to make one sentence? Maybe you can take out some words? Do this several times until you have 50 words. That's it! You have finished a 50-word summary! Here is an example, some sentences about the "Two-Gun Lil" story (91 words). In Part 2, I will show you how to change these 91 words into a 50-word summary.

1		When Lil Peters was a little girl, her father made her learn to shoot	14
2		When she went to college, she could shoot better than many men.	12
3		One day, Lil learned that her father was killed by a bad guy.	13
4		Lil promised that she would find the man who killed her father.	12
5		Garson Cade and Bunco tried to kill Lil with dynamite.	10
6		Lil was very smart, so she saved herself.	8
7		She then took out her guns and went to find the bad guys.	13
8		Lil found out that Garson Cade was the killer.	9

 

Two-Gun Lil--First Story

Here is the first Two-Gun Lil story, six picture pages and typed up text.

1.1

{Keep shootin', honey," Sheriff Sam Peters told his beautiful daughter, Lil! "Some day those six-guns may turn out to be the only friends you got!" So little Lil played with guns before she played with dolls -- and when the terrible day of vengeance came -- she was ready!}

1.2 

{A charity carnival in Boston}

By Jove, Lil... I believe I'll try shooting one of those big pistols ... if I can hold it!

Go ahead, Tommy! But you'd better use both hands!

1.3 

No good, son. Ah reckon you'll never make a good trail hand!

You can say that again, old timer! Sometimes I wonder what these dudes are good for! Let me try those guns!

1.4 

But ma'am, guns ain't for ladies.

Lil, be careful! You have no idea how heavy and loud they are!

2.1 

Phooey! I cut my first teeth on the barrel of a Colt .44!

Yike!

2.2 

Thanks! Now I'm going home to pack!  Sheriff Sam Peters of Sage City is going to get his daughter back again ... College or *NO* college!

2.3 

A telegram just came for you. Miss Peters!

Thanks!

2.4 

TELEGRAM--Miss Lil Peters, C/O Ladies Seminary, Boston; Your father Sheriff Sam Peters killed by bushwhacker; (Signed) Bob Cross, Deputy

2.5 

{Now I know why you made me learn to shoot!}

Now can I go play with my friends, Daddy?

Yes, honey! But *REMEMBER*, this is wild country! Some day, a pair of six-guns may be the *ONLY* friends you have!

2.6 

These are my friends now, Dad ... And they're going to help me pay back the buzzard who bushwhacked you! That's a *PROMISE*!

2.7 

No matter what they do or where they hide, I'll find the hombres who gunned out my Daddy ... *AND I'LL MAKE THEM PAY*!