Great writing requires a strong command of the language, and that generally translates into using the right word for the right purpose. This can produce sharper and more insightful essays. But using words just because they are big or complex won’t give you a better-quality essay automatically. Indeed, using the wrong words to seem smart can create wordiness or even confusion and undercut your essay entirely.
In this article, we’ll talk a bit about using smart words effectively in papers in order to achieve your desired results. It will provide you with valuable insights on approaching the task of writing admission essays individually, so you do not need to seek help at a college admission essay writing service.
Before we begin, it’s important to talk a little bit about the difference between the smart word for a situation and the longest or most complex word.
Wordiness and Inflated Language
Writing works best when it is sharp and clear. When it merely lards on big words to show off, it can fall into one of two traps (1) Wordiness, which means it uses too many words and confuses the reader, and (2) inflated language, which means using highfalutin words and extremely elaborate grammatical constructions that are overly complex and obscure meaning. Both of these problems can cause you to lose points on your paper because your writing will be difficult to understand and won’t convey the right meaning.
For many students, complex words are a proxy for intelligence. When they see a long word they think the writer must be really smart, so they imitate this practice by scouring the thesaurus for the biggest synonyms for whatever they are trying to say. Don’t use “verdant” when “green” will do, or “expeditiousness” where “speed” would work.
Just as problematic is using too many words in a sentence. Here is an example from San Jose University of a sentence that has too many words: “There is currently a lively, ongoing controversy among many sociologists and other professionals who study human nature: theories are being spun and arguments are being conducted among them about what it means that so many young people—and older people, for that matter—who live in our society today are so very interested in stories about zombies.” Can you find the point in all those words? When we cut out the redundancy and get right to the point, it becomes much clearer: “Currently, sociologists and others studying human nature are debating why so many people are interested in zombie stories.” The other words are mostly just filler that distract from the meaning.
Even when you have pared down your prose by removing redundancy, it’s also a good idea to cut out adverbs. In academic writing, you don’t need modifiers to describe how people speak or write. So you don’t need to say things like “…she said hastily,” or “… Napoleon walked awkwardly.” The verb by itself will be enough in most cases.
Using an Essay Writing Service for Help
A great way to learn how to avoid inflated language and wordiness is to read a model essay on your topic from a professional essay writing service like Smart Writing Service. You can hire academic writers whose sole job is to help students like you with papers. These writers can produce powerful academic essays that show you the right way to approach your topic and an effective way to use language to discuss your topic.
Choosing the Right Words for an Essay
None of this should be taken, of course, to mean that an essay should be written informally, with slang or text-speak. Nor does it mean that an essay should use only elementary school words. A good essay uses the right word, whether it is big or small, to convey your exact meaning. If you find that you struggle to find the right word, you may want to consider exercises for improving your vocabulary. There are a number of great ways to do this, including vocabulary-building apps. And, of course, reading great literature and looking up unfamiliar words is the tried-and-true method!
The List of Smart Words to Use in Essays
As you work on selecting the right smart words for your essay, you may want to keep in mind a few powerful words that can help to make an essay sound smarter:
- Advantageous: another word for “beneficial.”
- Aptitude: an ability or talent.
- Cumulative: an adjective meaning a total.
- Eloquent: fluent and well-spoken.
- Elucidate: to explain clearly.
- Gratuitous: unnecessary.
- Incisive: penetrating, insightful, sharply defined.
- Latent: present but hidden, waiting to be revealed.
- Modicum: a small, token amount.
- Myriad: a large amount, beyond number.
- Nuance: a subtle difference.
- Penchant: a strong liking or preference.
- Plethora: a lot, an abundance, too much.
- Salient: a stand-out, something obvious.
- Staid: dignified, decorous.
- Surfeit: too much.
- Venerable: highly regarded.
- Zenith: the highest point.
Smart words like these, when deployed in your essay in the right place, can lend it a sophisticated air and help convey to your readers that you are an expert in the art of essay writing. One thing you want to be sure to do is to use these words sparingly and not try to cram them all into one sentence. Let us elucidate a modicum of incisive aptitude for a salient… Yeah, that’s just weird.
Wrapping Up
The bottom line is that sounding smart in an essay is about more than just the words you use. It’s also about showing that you know how to use the words correctly, deploy them effectively, and write in a way that is both clear and understandable. When you write using the most understandable words for your meaning, you’ll sound smarter than if you simply pick the biggest words. Enjoy using smart words in essays to make your writing sound professional and sophisticated.
