Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MELLIFLUOUS

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connect today's word to others: Mellifluous voices are like a drop of honey: sweet, fluent, charming, and alluring. Sa_____ine voices are like a fistful of sugar: sweet, overwhelming, off-putting, and disgusting. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "MELLIFLUOUS" "Mellifluous" has Latin roots that mean "flowing like honey." So, it's related to other words involving honey, like "melrose," "molasses," and probably "caramel." Mellifluous sounds or words remind you of honey because they're sweet, charming, and smoothly flowing. Pronunciation: muh LIFF loo us Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "a mellifluous thing" or "a mellifluous person." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was mellifluous" or "He was mellifluous.") Other forms: Mellifluously, mellifluence/mellifluousness. An alternate adjective is "mellifluent." It's less common, so in this issue we'll stick to "mellifluous." How to use it: Talk about mellifluous sounds and music and songs, mellifluous voices and instruments, mellifluous speech and speakers, mellifluous writing and writers, mellifluous words and phrases, etc. examples: She's a creative procrastinator and a mellifluous liar. In "The Greatest Discovery," the singer's voice is warm and mellifluous, lingering over the slow, final, repeated line: "This is your brand new brother." study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "mellifluous" means when you can explain it without saying "flowing sweetly" or "like honey." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "_____ is a mellifluous (language, novel, poem, or song), full of _____." Example: "Charlotte's Web is a mellifluous novel, full of sensory delights: 'The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime,' 'It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure.'" (Manure? Okay, maybe not a sensory delight.) before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is called Felicitous Names.  A felicitous name for a fictional character is a highly appropriate name, a name that fits that character so perfectly that you just know the writer picked it on purpose. This month, draw on your knowledge of both vocabulary and fiction to pick out the right name for the character described. Enjoy! From our previous issue: There's a character with a felicitous name whose life, and death, are supremely sad. Her community has placed a dollar amount (well, a peso amount) on her life: she is married off to cancel a debt. Is she Dolores Preciado, Eduviges Dyada, or Susana San Juan? Why? Answer: In Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo, we feel pity for Dolores Preciado: dolor is Latin for "pain" and "grief," and pretium is Latin for "value" or "price" and is related to words like "precious" and "appreciate." Try this today: We need a felicitous name for a hard-partying robot. Is it Bender, Pliers, or Wrench? Why? review today's word: 1. A close opposite of MELLIFLUOUS is A. ADVENTITIOUS B. BENEVOLENT C. CACOPHONOUS 2. Her first poems are _____; they were published before she developed her trademark mellifluence. A. stiff and mechanical B. bright and optimistic C. brief and image-studded Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. A