Exercise six: latinate

Use this exercise to practice translating complex words to plain language.

Exercise instructions

Historically, English has two principle streams: Latinate (via Norman French) and Anglo-Saxon (Old English).

Latinate words are often multi-syllabic, dry and have simpler substitutes:

For historical reasons, Latinate is commonly used in government, law and higher education. Many argue it is used to intimidate, disempower, obfuscate and make the speaker feel important.

For fun, try to translate the following Latinate back into everyday expressions.

1. Scintillate, scintillate, astrum diminutive. 
2. Members of an avian species with identical plumage will congregate. 
3. It is futile to become lachrymose over precipitately departed lacteal fluids. 
4. The stylus is more potent than the claymore.
5. It is fruitless to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative manoeuvers. 

Record your answers

Use the exercise files to record your answers as you work through the course.

You can download each exercise individually or a single file containing all of the exercises in the course:

• Exercise 6 and Takeaways (PDF, 90KB)
• Plain Language Course - All Exercises (PDF, 209.7KB)

Review and continue

When you're done, go to exercise six takeaways