Alphabetization
As you have surely used a dictionary in the course of your school or university career, you know that a vast majority of dictionaries are ordered alphabetically. Let us have a short look at how dictionary makers do this. Normally, dictionary makers alphabetize letter by letter. The advantage of that practice is that one does not need to know if the word is spelled as one or two words, for example. He only needs to know the right spelling to find a form. Idioms are particularly problematic when we talk about alphabetization. Mostly, an idiom is listed “run on” under the first word of the phrase, but sometimes the first word is not as important as later ones or variable, so exceptions are made. Alphabetization is more problematic in scientific works than in general dictionaries, as there are often phrases instead of words. Especially in the medical and chemical world, where sometimes it is not sure if a term is spelled as one word or two words, exceptions in alphabetizations are to be made and the generally simple letter by letter technique has to be slightly changed (Landau 1984, 82 ff.).
Exercise:
Try to order these words alphabetically as they occur in the Oxford Advanced Learner` s Dictionary!
1.homebase/2.home front/3.home-grown/4.home/5.homecoming
41532
32514
41532
41523
