How to develop a verbose writing style

[98.40_for_sure]

I wanna sound like a pro when i sit my end of year english exam, so recently i've been trying to use massive words almost everywhere and sound like i know my shiz...

So my question is... what's the best way to rapidly increase vocab and be able to incorporate it when writing a fluent piece?

I'm assuming the most common answer will be: read read read

[EvangelionZeta]

Write write write.

Practice is the only way to get there.  Reading is only part of the process - after that's all done, you need to be sure you can actually apply what you've learnt, and that only comes from consistent practice (or usage of words, anyway).

The other thing is that being verbose doesn't necessarily get you good marks (it can lead to obfuscation and make your writing just look plain ugly), and you can do well without an excessive vocab.  Our school captain from last year wrote pretty much bare-bones, "Hemingway-esque" writing, and ended up getting a Premier's Award.

[pooshwaltzer]

I wanna sound like a pro when i sit my end of year english exam, so recently i've been trying to use massive words almost everywhere and sound like i know my shiz...

You'll risk shooting yourself in the foot when exuberant verbosity becomes entangling, incomprehensible and contextually nonsensical. Better to succeed at mediocrity than to fail at egregiously optimistic feats.

[98.40_for_sure]

Perfect example of how i wanna write:

You'll risk shooting yourself in the foot when exuberant verbosity becomes entangling, incomprehensible and contextually nonsensical. Better to succeed at mediocrity than to fail at egregiously optimistic feats.

Teach me!

[wildareal]

Firstly. You do not aim to be verbose. Verbose is a negative term used for people who try to be literary.
Secondly. You don't aim to use good words, you aim to use the right word at the right time.
For example:
Virgil presents Aeneas as a human character, rather than a strong hero.

In the above sentence, I could say:

Virgil presents Aeneas as a credible human character, rather than a pale paragon.

The word paragon, I learned recently means 'an ideal embodiment'-like a hero.

So the trick is to use the right word in the right context.

If you try and use words you don't know well enough, then you will get far worse marks than if you were to use plain simple english.

To expand your vocabulary in an effective way, read Literary journals on the books you are reading: these can be accessed off JSTOR off the State Library Website.

Also make a book of all the 'good' words you learn, and provide an example. I have had a book since Grade 1, which I, till today add words to.

Most importantly, don't let the need for good words or quotes detract from what you are trying to say in an essay.

Read some of pooshwaltzer's posts, they are like essays in themselves-look up the good words he uses.

Cheers.

[wildareal]

I wanna sound like a pro when i sit my end of year english exam, so recently i've been trying to use massive words almost everywhere and sound like i know my shiz...

You'll risk shooting yourself in the foot when exuberant verbosity becomes entangling, incomprehensible and contextually nonsensical. Better to succeed at mediocrity than to fail at egregiously optimistic feats.

Oh the irony of this post!

[brightsky]

As mentioned, vocab does not equate fluent writing. In some cases, verbosity can make a piece of writing very mechanical, detracting from the purpose of an essay. Best way to "sound pro" is through deep analysis, or in other words, showing a sophisticated understanding of the ideas in the text and exploring it in a fluent way. A lot of the top essays I've read don't necessarily use any big words, but focus on clear writing so the reader knows exactly what you are on about. I don't think simply reading books would help you much since the vocabulary needed in writing an essay is very different from those used in writing imaginative pieces. A good alternative is to read through model essays, or going through "essay vocab lists" and highlighting the words/sentence structures/phrases that you are not sure of and look up a dictionary afterwards. Another good way is to pick up a Roget's Thesaurus and study some synonyms, though you must be sure that the right words are used in the essay.

[wildareal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwicLgOGJOI

Learn how to speak from this guy.

[98.40_for_sure]

Uhh ok, if i was to reword my question.

How do you write using big words, but where every word adds meaning to your writing? Occasionally some big words i add in act as metaphors as well as expressing my point more clearly?

[Russ]

I'd empty quote pooshwaltzer's post but we've been there/done that before (although this one is relatively solid)

Anyway, one of the key rules I use when writing is that powerful words need space. If you load a sentence with "big" words, they take away from each other and compete for the attention of the reader. Part of what makes them so strong is the contrast between, say, "callipygian" and the rest of the sentence.

If you want to learn them..well, there's no quick way to do it. Go buy the fin review, that often has some very well written articles. Other than that, just read and write sample essays in order to get into the habit of integrating key words.

e, just remembered, i have a "dictionary of difficult words" that I used instead of a normal dictionary for VCE english

[Mulan]

You'll risk shooting yourself in the foot when exuberant verbosity becomes entangling, incomprehensible and contextually nonsensical. Better to succeed at mediocrity than to fail at egregiously optimistic feats.

soooo many hard words in twoo sentences. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 

[Mulan]

e, just remembered, i have a "dictionary of difficult words" that I used instead of a normal dictionary for VCE english

ohhhhhh, how long did it take to create this dictionary?

[shinny]

1.   If you’ve got two words that mean the same thing, choose the simpler one
2.   If you’ve got a word which can replace a phrase, use it
3.   Generally only one 'big' word per phrase (see what Russ said regarding words needing 'space')

Rules of vocab from my English cram sessions. Big words need a purpose, not just wedged in for the sake of it. I find that fluency tends to decrease with increasingly long sentences, so chucking in a big word to replace a string of words serves to improve fluency in most cases. Replacing a simpler word with a big word would only decrease it however. Try and find 'big' words which are uniquely suited to analysing your text succinctly. These are often words which embody ideas represented in your text.

[Russ]

ohhhhhh, how long did it take to create this dictionary?

It's a published dictionary

[98.40_for_sure]

1.   If you’ve got two words that mean the same thing, choose the simpler one
2.   If you’ve got a word which can replace a phrase, use it
3.   Generally only one 'big' word per phrase (see what Russ said regarding words needing 'space')

Rules of vocab from my English cram sessions. Big words need a purpose, not just wedged in for the sake of it. I find that fluency tends to decrease with increasingly long sentences, so chucking in a big word to replace a string of words serves to improve fluency in most cases. Replacing a simpler word with a big word would only decrease it however. Try and find 'big' words which are uniquely suited to analysing your text succinctly. These are often words which embody ideas represented in your text.

What if say... you struggle to meet word limits? Would you then still risk coming short for the sake of fluency?