Clever Sounding Words

Last time i wsa here i picked up some really cool words like: hamartia, quixotic
Malapropism and Bildungsroman.

has anyone got anymore of those kind of words of nifty phrases for poetry or the novel [in my case lord of the flies] ????

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

missmisanthropy

Microcosm and Macrocosm are good for Lord of the Flies

Reply 2

chr15chr15

12

archaic i suppose im more a maths and science person thats my best attempt

Reply 3

mobile_geek

Allegorical, Euphemism, Microcosm

Reply 4

missmisanthropy

With Lord of the Flies
You could talk about Aristotle's idea of Catharsis?
Maybe too much for GCSE?

Reply 5

StabiloBoss

OP

8

missmisanthropy

With Lord of the Flies
You could talk about Aristotle's idea of Catharsis?
Maybe too much for GCSE?

ooh sounds good but what does it mean?

Reply 6

mobile_geek

missmisanthropy

With Lord of the Flies
You could talk about Aristotle's idea of Catharsis?
Maybe too much for GCSE?

What is that idea?

Reply 7

steelmole

10

Vitiate sounds clever.

Reply 8

Ed.

17

What's the point ?

If you learnt a long word just to sound clever it will show through in your work. It will make you look infantile and frankly stupid. What will the examiner think if a majority of your answer is in simple teenager English, then you drop Bildungsroman into a sentence. You are far better off studying your set texts than learning long words.

Reply 9

binary.basher

gretin...... and falicy:0

Reply 10

StabiloBoss

OP

8

steelmole

Vitiate sounds clever.

does indeed but what does it mean?

Reply 11

toby_ling

Ed.

What's the point ?

If you learnt a long word just to sound clever it will show through in your work. It will make you look infantile and frankly stupid. What will the examiner think if a majority of your answer is in simple teenager English, then you drop Bildungsroman into a sentence. You are far better off studying your set texts than learning long words.

Agreed. Either you go the whole way with 'clever words' or don't bother at all and stay with the 'basic' words. Remember, for the literature papers, examiners look for clarity in justification and in depth analysis. So you'll be biting yourself in the balls if you mess up on that important bit.

Reply 12

StabiloBoss

OP

8

binary.basher

gretin...... and falicy:0

ooh. care to give me a meaning?

Reply 13

StabiloBoss

OP

8

Ed.

What's the point ?

If you learnt a long word just to sound clever it will show through in your work. It will make you look infantile and frankly stupid. What will the examiner think if a majority of your answer is in simple teenager English, then you drop Bildungsroman into a sentence. You are far better off studying your set texts than learning long words.

Well that is your opinion. but i feel i know my texts well enough and that the rest of my answer will sound sophicated enough that it won't look out of place and a few good words, used correctly, will ensure i get my A*/

Reply 14

steelmole

10

StabiloBoss

does indeed but what does it mean?

To contaminate or to void a contract. It's my word of the week.

Reply 15

Ed.

17

StabiloBoss

Well that is your opinion. but i feel i know my texts well enough and that the rest of my answer will sound sophicated enough that it won't look out of place and a few good words, used correctly, will ensure i get my A*/

You don't even know what they mean. You have asked every poster here to explain there word.

Believe me it will be painfully obvious if you start building sentences around large pompous words. As Toby said earlier if you are basing your answer around technical descriptions and ideas, which you shouldn't at GCSE anyway, it will look out of place if the rest of your writing is based on standard teenaged vocab. GCSE English isn't asking for a complete technical dressing down of the texts. Simpler comments well executed will reap you more reward.

Whilst a few posts aren't really much to go on, what you have written in here shows no evidence of an advanced writing style.

Reply 16

ThisNameNowTaken

Does the book have any soliloquys ;P

Reply 17

EskimoJo

18

Lol - only a genius would have the confidence to use this in their exams. I recommend it. :smile:

Reply 18

Ed.

17

ThisNameNowTaken

Does the book have any soliloquys ;P

How many books do you know that have soliloquies ? Books regularly show the characters thoughts, but rarely are they spoken. Soliloquy means speaking alone. It is very common in plays.