Англо-русский учебный словарь

Usually an entry or division starts by giving one or more general translations. Examples then follow grouped around the general translations in the order in which these were' given; then come examples which are not covered by any of the general translations.

Within an entry or division, direct uses are given first, followed by specialized, colloquial direct, figurative and then figurative colloquial uses. In big entries figurative uses are often treated in a separate division. Attributive uses of a noun come at the end of the entry or of the appropriate division.

The divisions of an entry normally depend on the different shades of meaning in which the English headword is being used, but, exceptionally, divisions may be given over to transla­tions of a single English meaning by particular Russian constructions, if it seems that to do so will make for a clearer understanding by the English learner.

Transitive and intransitive uses of a verb are treated separately. In the case of the larger verbs, uses with prepositions or adverbial particles are given separately as headwords in alphabet­ical order, and they are similarly divided into transitive and intransitive uses.

TRANSLATION OF HEADWORDS

A number of entries open with a colon and proceed straight to the examples. This happens when no sufficiently general translations of the headword suggest themselves. A translation which only suits one use of the headword is always shown in context: it is misleading to give one-time uses in a way that suggests that they can be widely applied.

Again Russian definitions or explanations of the headword are avoided. The student is looking for Russian equivalents usable (when properly inflected) in live context. To translate some (pronoun) by некоторое количество is an explanation, and it is most unlikely to be the correct translation of some (pronoun) in any given context. Again приветствие is a correct translation of welcome (noun), but, in the four common examples chosen in the text, it is not used once. In such a case the student is less likely to be misled if the entry opens immediately with translations of the common contexts, or of the set combinations in which the headword is normally used.

GRAMMATICAL INDICATIONS

Each headword is followed by its grammatical label in abbreviated form: n — ndun, adj—adjec­tive and so on.

The constructions following a Russian word are always shown, either in abbreviated form, e.g. любовь к + А привыкнуть к + D or+ inf, or they may be shown in examples, and often in both ways.