Dictionary skills: long-tongued bat
The Grammar Bit!
Learning how to use a dictionary is an important skill. Dictionaries can be used to help you understand the meaning of a word. They can also be used to help you spell a word correctly.
Dictionaries are ordered alphabetically with words that begin with A at the front and those that begin with Z at the back. Once you have found the general location of a word in the dictionary, you will need to look at the second and sometimes the third letters of a word to find its exact location.
Read the three scintillating sentences opposite. With your talk partner, use a dictionary to quickly locate one of the words highlighted in bold. How quickly were you able to do this? What is the meaning of this word?
Scintillating Sentences
1) Long-tongued bats crave the sweet nectar in the beautiful, fragrant flowers.
2) Long-tongued bats perform vital work by transferring pollen from flower to flower.
3) When all the nectar has been taken, long-tongued bats finally feel that their sweet tooth has been satisfied.
Did you know?
The long-tongued bat has tiny hairs on the end of its tongue, which it uses to mop up nectar and pollen from within flowers.