Tools and Resources
Free online tools and resources
English - English Dictionaries
Cambridge Dictionary
- Besides giving definitions, example sentences, synonyms, related words and phrases, the dictionary also includes a helpful text translator and grammar pages. There are American and British live voice
pronunciations, as well as multiple bilingual and semi-bilingual dictionaries.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online
- This dictionary provides specific identification of the parts of speech for each word. Another unique
feature is that it pronounces complete sentences for some examples, besides the defined word. In
addition, there are three bilingual dictionaries and a translator page on the site.
Oxford Living Dictionaries
- Oxford offers the works of a comprehensive dictionary. The identification of the parts of speech for
each defined word is specific and detailed, followed by umpteen examples, synonyms, antonyms and informal usage. The grammar page there is also very helpful.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
- A good dictionary that gives live voice pronunciation, definitions with example sentences, synonyms
and antonyms. Also, with each word, Merriam-Webster states when it is first known, as well as the
word's history and etymology.
Collins English Dictionary
- Collins gives British and American live voice pronunciations, usages, example sentences, as well as a
comprehensive list and explanation of parts of speech for each word. Near the bottom of each page,
there is a section where one can hear how the word is pronounced in different languages. This is fun!
There are also other helpful pages on the dictionary site, including a grammar page, a translator page
and a Thesaurus page. One can also access bilingual dictionaries there.
- (Full bilingual) English - French, English - German, English - Spanish, English - Italian, English -
Chinese, English - Portuguese, English - Hindi.
Cambridge Dictionary
- (Full bilingual) English - Spanish, English - French, English - German, English - Indonesian, English -
Italian, English - Polish, English - Portuguese, English - Japanese.
(Semi-bilingual) Dutch - English, English - Arabic, English - Catalan, English - Chinese (Simplified),
English - Chinese (Traditional), English - Czech, English - Danish, English - Korean, English - Malay,
English - Norwegian, English - Russian, English - Thai, English - Turkish, English - Vietnamese.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online
- (Full bilingual) English - Japanese, English - Spanish.
(Semi-bilingual) English - Korean.
- Wikipedia says it is available in 171 languages and in simple English.
Youdao
- A full bilingual dictionary between English and Chinese.
Text Translators
Google Translate
- A multilingual machine translation service developed by Google, to translate texts of over 100
languages.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online
Collins English Dictionary
- These three online dictionaries also provide a translator page where one can copy and paste a whole
section of text for translation. It is nice that there are several translation venues where we can compare
what they translate.
Writing Tools
- Find out what any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism stands for.
Thesaurus
- For synonyms and antonyms.
Synonym
- For synonyms and antonyms. These days, many good online dictionaries also provide synonyms and
antonyms (see our dictionary entries above) for words. As a non-native speaker, I've found it useful to
use these tools to look up related words when writing English, as I don't want to repeat myself too
often, and my library of vocabulary is not rich enough to allow me to express all things I want to
convey.
Pronunciation
How Many Syllables
Encyclopaedia
Wikipedia
- Wikipedia is the largest and most popular general multilingual reference work online.
Search Engine
Google
- Google is a multi-service technology hub, but I basically use it for searching.
English Learning
- A prescriptive American English writing style guide, was first written by William Strunk Jr. as course
notes for an English course in Cornell University, and published in 1920, and then was greatly enlarged
and revised by E. B. White, Strunk's student at Cornell, for publication in 1959. Time named the book in
2011 as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923. Some have
commented that certain rules in the book have been outdated in the face of modern English usage. For us
non-native speakers, though, I think it's still a handy and useful guide for learning grammar and English
writing.
- A free and helpful educational website for learners and teachers of English.
Open Coursewares
MIT OpenCourseWare
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology publishes all of the educational materials from its
undergraduate and graduate-level courses online, and makes them freely available. As of May 2018,
over 2,400 courses were available online, while 100 courses included complete video lectures. The MIT
initiative has inspired more than 250 other institutions to make their course materials available as open
educational resources through the Open Education Consortium.
Open Education Consortium
- Provides links to openly shared educational resources worldwide.