IELTS Advice: 'plethora'

my examiner friend concerns and advise

students not to use the word 'plethora' in their essays.

Why not?

Well...

-Plethora means 'many'.

If you write that👉 there are a plethora of reasons and then give only one or two reasons, you've used the word wrongly.

-The word plethora seems too exaggerated, pompous or pretentious for an IELTS essay. It doesn't suit the 'measured' academic style that we're aiming for.

-If the rest of your essay is written in a more basic style, a word like plethora will stand out as strange and unnatural.

-If you attempt to use 'impressive' words but your essay is full of mistakes, it is obvious to the examiner that you're trying to show off.
When surrounded by grammar mistakes, a word like plethora looks even more unnatural.

-The examiner said:
I'm a native speaker, and I would only use the word plethora if I really wanted to exaggerate something, or to sound pretentious on purpose (perhaps for humorous effect).
I wouldn't use it in an academic essay.

-Finally, plethora is an example of what I call an 'any essay word'.
Students learn words like this because they hope to use them in any essay, regardless of the topic.
In other words, these students are trying to 'trick' the examiner into being impressed - this doesn't work.
If you want to impress the examiner, you should focus on specific topic vocabulary.

I hope this convinces you to stop learning words like plethora.
Just write "there are several reasons" or "there are two main reasons" and then focus on describing them.
Leave the pompous language to politicians!



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