How to Sound Really Clever: 600 Words You Need to Know

(Paperback)

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Description

How to Sound Really Clever explains and illustrates over 600 words that can outfox us, such as 'condign', 'Zelig-like' and 'agitprop'. This is the sequel to the successful How to Sound Clever (2010) which taught you 600 words you really ought to know but haven't had the time to look up in the dictionary. Each entry features an etymological description as well as useful example phrases so that readers can quickly see the correct context for each word. Anecdotes and witty illustrations appear throughout to make this an entertaining book that will help readers to boost their vocabulary.

Reviews

A very handy resource when you need to make those fine distinctions between the ego and the superego, or if you cant tell your exogenous from your endogenous or want to know what makes for a diegetic soundtrack in a film. How to Sound Really Clever is a teasing mixture of the half-familiar and the intriguingly obscure, and its all done with a light touch. -- Philip Gooden * Author *
This witty book is an alphabetical list of less usual words and expressions which might impress others. Some are recondite, some are more familiar, with clear definitions and guidance on usage. I loved it. * Dr Bernard Lamb, President of the Queen's English Society. *
Praise for How To Sound Clever: This admirable book is a wholly welcome antidote to the semi-demi-literacy of the 21st century. Go out and buy it!' -- Colin Dexter * Author of the Inspector Morse novels *
How to Sound Clever is a jaunty romp through the groves of vocabulary, conducted with plenty of irony and wit, as the title would suggest. The 600 words are chosen with real judgement: these are not recherch heirlooms, dragged out of disuse for their curiosity value, but words on the fringes of the mainstream, lucidly explained. A profoundly agreeable book, full of charm. -- Will Le Fleming * English Teacher, St Paul's School, London *
Entertaining, well-researched and informative, this is the sort of book into which one is irresistibly drawn to dip. It provides many a surprise and gives rise to many a smile. -- David Colman * Former Head of Modern Languages, Eton College *

Author Bio

Hubert van den Bergh has worked in the City for the past decade. A language enthusiast, he read French and Linguistics at Oxford University. He is the author of How to Sound Clever (A&C Black, 2010) and regularly contributes to The Telegraph.