Grammar coding in theOxford advanced learner's dictionary of current English

Abstract

This paper deals with the revised system of grammar coding for verbs in the fourth edition of theOxford advanced learner's dictionary of current English, comparing it with its two greatest rivals (the Longman and COBUILD EFL dictionaries). It is shown that OALD4 scores more favourably than the others on six criteria: a) the grammar codes must be unambiguous and easy to use, b) every verb entry must include at least one code, which should be self‐explanatory, c) all the grammatical information should be easy to interpret without reference to a table of codes, d) each verb pattern must be illustrated by examples arranged in the same order as the codes, e) transformational possibilities (passivization, dative alternation, etc.) should be indicated in each verb entry, and f) the codes should be explicit and complete, not collapsed to save space, and the use of brackets is to be avoided. Suggestions are made for improving the OALD verb coding system even further.