General Grammar

How to Work Effectively with Dictation

When working with dictation, you will usually be given three attempts to hear it. You should use each opportunity to gain an understanding of the passage.

• Listen the first time a passage is read
• The second time write down the words you have heard
• The third reading, look at what you wrote, make any obvious changes, and underline the words you question.
• Before handing in your paper (and this can be done on the third step) read what you wrote for comprehension. Do the subjects and verbs work together- both plural and singular? Do adjective and nouns agree? Am I using the correct declension ending for a particular noun or adjective, the correct for for the conjugation of the verb?
• On scrap paper, write out the principal parts of the word such as arbor, arboris f. tree, and then look to see if you really have a third declension ending on the noun.

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