把MS Word打造成英语学习利器

Turning MS Word into a Tool for Learning English

> By Li Xiaolai · 2009-11-03 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111112174649/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/7662.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

**Note: please do not repost this article without permission.**

Contents of the document:

- The "mouse-over word lookup" feature of MS Word 2007
- The "dictionary panel" of MS Word 2007
- The "thesaurus of synonyms and near-synonyms" (Thesaurus) of MS Word 2007
- The "English Assistant" of MS Word 2007
- Setting up a word read-aloud feature for MS Word 2007
- Using Word 2007 to make yourself a custom vocabulary list for an article you read
- Appendix: my commonly used macro code

---

In the age of keeping records by tying knots, humans were actually not very different from other animals; only after writing appeared did humans begin to possess so-called "knowledge" that could be spread (across generations), corrected and accumulated. So, writing tools are truly far too important to humankind. The writing brush, the quill, the pencil, the fountain pen, the ballpoint pen…… right up to today's all kinds of input methods and word-processing software (MS Word is one of them)—every change in writing tools has been accompanied by enormous progress for humankind.

For Chinese students, MS Word is not merely a "word-processing tool"; it is even more a very powerful tool for learning.

**The "mouse-over word lookup" feature of MS Word 2007**

Starting with the 2007 version, MS Word has a built-in "mouse-over word lookup" feature. The dictionary it uses is the English–Chinese edition of the authoritative American Heritage Dictionary (《美国传统词典》), with detailed definitions and plentiful example sentences. Under a "default installation," the mouse-over lookup feature is not switched on, and the user needs to switch it on manually—in the right-click shortcut menu choose "Translate" (翻译), and then select "Chinese (China)" (中文(中国)):

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ms-word-2007-screen-dictionary.png)

After that, just move the mouse onto an English word and let it rest there, and you will see the Chinese explanation of that English word:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/buildin-dictionary-office-2007.PNG)

**The "dictionary panel" of MS Word 2007**

By default, MS Word has a shortcut key: "Alt + Left Mouse": first hold down the Alt key, then left-click on any English word, and the search results for this word will be shown in MS Word's sidebar (this is also equivalent to right-clicking on that English word and then choosing "Translate" -> "Translate" (“翻译”->“翻译”) in the shortcut menu):

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/office-2007-sidebar.png)

If what the user has installed is the Chinese edition of MS Office, it may need some setting before double-clicking with the left mouse button in a document will automatically select the whole English word ("Word Options" -> "Advanced" -> "When selecting, automatically select entire word (W)" (“Word选项”->“高级”->“选定时自动选定整个单词(W)”)):

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/word-2007-selecting-the-whole-word.PNG)

This dictionary works in both directions, English–Chinese and Chinese–English. Select a Chinese word in the document, then use the "Alt + Left Mouse" shortcut on the selected area, and the English definitions of that Chinese word will be shown on the right.

**The "thesaurus of synonyms and near-synonyms" (Thesaurus) of MS Word 2007**

Right-click on any English word, and you can see a "Synonyms" (同义词) shortcut menu. By choosing a submenu item, you can replace the word in the document with that synonym:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/buildin-thesaurus-office-2007.PNG)

If you want to see the fuller contents of the "thesaurus of synonyms and near-synonyms," then after moving the cursor to the position of a word, press the shortcut key "Shift + F7"; you can then see the detailed contents of the "thesaurus of synonyms and near-synonyms" in the right sidebar.

And MS Word also has a very convenient "synonym and near-synonym lookup dialog," but because by default no shortcut key is set up to call it up, many users have never seen it at all:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tools-thesaurus.png)

The method of adding a shortcut key for the "synonym and near-synonym lookup dialog" is as follows:

- "Word Options" -> "Customize" -> "Keyboard shortcuts: Customize" (“Word选项”->“自定义”->“键盘快捷方式自定义”);
- In the "Customize Keyboard" (自定义键盘) dialog select: "Specify a command" -> in "Categories (C):" choose "All Commands" (“指定命令”->“类别(C):”中选择“所有命令”)
- In "Commands (O)" (命令(O)) choose ToolsThesaurus,
- Click once with the left mouse button in the input box under "Press new shortcut key (N)" (请按快捷键(N)), then press "Ctrl+Shift+F7" all at once, then click the "Assign" (指定) button in the lower left, and then close the dialog. (Of course, readers can choose the combination of shortcut keys according to their own preferences……)

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tools-thesaurus-shortcuts-setting.png)

**The "English Assistant" of MS Word 2007**

In fact, readers may long since have noticed that the best of the dictionary tools in the right sidebar should be the "English Assistant" (英语助手) (rather than the "Bilingual Dictionary" (双语词典) called up by the "Translate" command). The "English Assistant" includes almost all the good stuff: "Chinese definitions" (equivalent to an English–Chinese dictionary), "English definitions" (equivalent to an English–English dictionary), "common collocations" (equivalent to a collocations dictionary) and "synonyms" (equivalent to a Thesaurus). How can you call up the "English Assistant" directly?

Actually it's very simple; the method is the same as "adding a shortcut key for the synonym and near-synonym lookup dialog" above. Only this time you add a shortcut key for the "EngWritingAssistant" command. I usually like to use "Alt+X," a key combination not yet defined in MS Word.

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tools-engWritingAssistant-shortcuts-setting.png)

(Also, this "English Assistant" in MS Word can only be used when connected to the internet, because it actually returns its results after querying Microsoft's server. The service query address is: <http://office.microsoft.com/Research/query.asmx>; readers with programming ability might as well take a look at the "Basci Query Option" [Translator's note: so spelled in the original; "Basic Query Option" is meant] in it……)

On some people's computers, Office may not have the "English Assistant" service installed, and the user needs to add it manually. Anywhere in the document, "Alt + right mouse button" calls up the tool pane on the right; then click "Research options" (信息检索选项) at the bottom of the tool pane:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/information-index-option.png)

Click the "Add Services (A)" (添加服务(A)) button in the lower left, and you get the following dialog:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/add-service.png)

Then in the text input box after "Address (A)" (地址(A)) at the bottom, enter: "http://office.microsoft.com/Research/query.asmx" and then press the "Add" (添加) button:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/confirm.png)

Just click the "Install (I)" (安装(I)) button in this dialog.

**Setting up a word read-aloud feature for MS Word 2007**

This step is a bit more complicated, because macro code has to be added to Word.

In the Word program, first close all documents, then press the shortcut key "Alt+F11" to call up the VBA editor.

From the "Tools (T)" (工具(T)) menu choose "References (R)" (引用(R)); in the dialog that pops up, select "Microsoft Speech Object Library," and then tick the checkbox in front of it:

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/add-microsoft-speech-object-library.png)

After that, in [Translator's note: the original writes 再, literally "again"; 在 ("in") is meant; translated by the intended sense] the "Project" (工程) panel on the left of the VBA editor, double-click to select "Normal – Microsoft Word Objects - ThisDocument" (Normal – Microsoft Word对象-ThisDocument), and in the main program panel enter the following VBA code:

```
Sub SpeakText()
On Error Resume Next
Set speech = New SpVoice
Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
If Len(Selection.Text) > 1 Then 'speak selection
speech.Speak Trim(Selection.Text), _
SVSFlagsAsync + SVSFPurgeBeforeSpeak
End If
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Do
DoEvents
Loop Until speech.WaitUntilDone(10)
Set speech = Nothing
End Sub
```

Press the shortcut key "CTRL+S" to save, then close the VBA editor. After that, you can set a shortcut key for this macro—my personal choice is "CTRL+SHIFT+S."

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/self-define-macro-shortcuts.png)

Actually, writing macro code for Word is very simple, and VBA program code is also fairly easy to read. In the last part of the current document, I have appended the macro code I use most often myself.

**Using Word 2007 to make yourself a custom vocabulary list for an article you read**

MS Word also has a very good feature: "Select Text with Similar Formatting (S)" (选择格式相似的文本(S)). This way, while reading an English article, you can mark all the new words as you go, and then, through "Select Text with Similar Formatting (S)," copy out separately the text that has been marked.

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/word-select-same-format.png)

After selecting, press "Ctrl+C":

[［image］](http://www.lixiaolai.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/word-selected.png)

Then find somewhere else and "Ctrl+V," and you get the following list:

- neonatal
- burgeoning
- endoscopic
- snaking
- gallbladders
- jabbed
- sales pitch
- laparoscopic
- lickety-split

In the same way as described before, you can also set a shortcut key for the command "Select Text with Similar Formatting (S)"—the command name of this feature is "SelectSimilarFormatting"; I usually set it to "Alt+S."

What formatting should you use to mark text while reading? "Bold" and "italic" may not be good choices, because the text may already contain some words in these formats; adding a highlight background color isn't a good choice either—for some reason Word's "Select Text with Similar Formatting (S)" actually doesn't support this format. I usually use "double underline." Just as you can see in the illustration above. This time no customizing is needed, because double underline has a shortcut key set by default in Word: "Ctrl+Shift+D."

The way to remove all the marks is: left-click once on a word marked with "double underline," then press the shortcut key "Alt+S" you have just set up, and then press "Ctrl+Shift+D," and that's it.

**Appendix**

The following is the code of the macros I personally use most often:

```
'To use this macro, the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary must be installed beforehand
Sub LookUpMerriamWebsterDictionary()

' MWDictionary Macro
Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
Selection.Copy
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
If Tasks.Exists("Merriam-Webster") = True Then
With Tasks("Merriam-Webster")
.Activate
.WindowState = wdWindowStateNormal
End With
SendKeys "%ep{ENTER}", 1
Else
Response = MsgBox("Task Merriam-Webster doesn't exist! Run the application before use this Macro, please.", vbExclamation, "WARNING!")
End If
End Sub

Sub SpeakTheWord()
On Error Resume Next
Set speech = New SpVoice
Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
If Len(Selection.Text) > 1 Then 'speak selection
speech.Speak Trim(Selection.Text), _
SVSFlagsAsync + SVSFPurgeBeforeSpeak
End If
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Do
DoEvents
Loop Until speech.WaitUntilDone(10)
Set speech = Nothing
End Sub

' Add double quotation marks around the selected text
Sub AddDoubleQuotationMarks()
Selection.InsertBefore ("“")
Selection.InsertAfter ("”")
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
End Sub

' Set the font of the selected text
Sub ChangeFontNameTo()
Selection.Font.Name = "Georgia"
End Sub

' Set the font size of the selected text
Sub ChangeFontSizeTo()
Selection.Font.Size = 28
End Sub

' Enlarge the font size of the selected text
Sub FontSizeGrow()
Selection.Font.Grow
End Sub

' Shrink the font size of the selected text
Sub FontSizeShrink()
Selection.Font.Shrink
End Sub

' Capitalize the first letter of the word where the cursor [Translator's note: the original comment writes 双标, literally "double mark"; 光标 ("cursor") is meant; translated by the intended sense] is
Sub FirstLetterToUppercase()
Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1, Extend:=wdExtend
Selection.Text = UCase(Selection.Text)
Selection.MoveRight Unit:=wdWord, Count:=1
End Sub
```

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