"What is Verisimilitude?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers

[@SWLF]

If you liked this video, show us some love by liking it, asking us a question, or commenting on your favorite example of verisimilitude in literature. Happy reading, everybody!

[@DscplnDThghT]

What a way to end it. "Fiction becomes truthful precisely at the moment its artificiality is acknowledged" 👌

[@SWLF]

Thanks, @princevv2083 ! Prof Elbom did such a great job with this video. We hope you enjoy the other videos in this series as well!

[@marylee8372]

Thanks for all of your videos in this series! I teach EFL and these videos help me to explain the vagaries of English grammar and literature to my students.

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much for your kind words, Mary Lee! We're delighted to hear that you have found the lessons useful, and we hope you enjoy this one as well!

[@miyayume_eclectic_dream]

I never came across this word till now. It looks that the book A Memory called Empire is going to teach me language as well being an fascinating space opera.

[@SWLF]

Thanks for the comment, @miyayume9127 ! But how did you get from the term verisimilitude to A Memory Called Empire? Does this novel use the term?

[@miyayume_eclectic_dream]

@@SWLF Exactly. The language in the book has its own "way of being spoken" I'll call it as I don't know the term for it. At some point verisimilitude was used and it didn't feel like a word created for the book, not in the way it was done in The Goblin Emperor [in has a small dictionary at the end of the book]. Google did help but this video made it more verisimilitude. [ Tried a word play here. Not sure it worked. 😆]

[@SWLF]

Nicely done, @@miyayume_eclectic_dream ! We're glad to hear the you enjoyed the verisimilitude of Prof. Elbom's lesson on verisimilitude. OK, now we're being silly too... Thanks for keeping the conversation going!

[@kiesernation1977]

Every day I try to expand my vocabulary by using new words to give my arguments more Verisimilitude. Today's word: "Expand".

[@SWLF]

Thanks for the comment, @kiesernation1977 ! We're delighted to hear you found the lesson useful!

[@la_profe_paula_poh]

Excelente vídeo!!

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much, Paula!!! We hope you enjoy the other videos in our series as well.

[@shiprapathak6470]

Can A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man be considered as a good example of Verisimilitude?

[@SWLF]

Interesting question, Shipra! How are you thinking the term could work here?

[@shiprapathak6470]

@@SWLF I mean, when the narrator Stephen is a child the narrative is childish and as he grows up the narrative becomes mature. The starting few chapters are childlike and when the narrator becomes an intellectual, the later chapters become philosophical. So, in this sense can we say it's an example of Verisimilitude?

[@smritiagarwal4534]

Incredible

[@SWLF]

Thanks so much for checking out so many of our lessons, Smitri!

[@brianwalter5503]

Reality: "[O]ne of the few words which mean nothing without quotes." -- Vivian Darkbloom :)

[@SWLF]

Ha! Ole Nabokov certainly was team counter-argument, wasn't he? Thanks for the post, Brian.

[@NolaLee]

Okay. Now please give examples of using verisimilitude in a sentence (not in the way I just used it 😊).

[@SWLF]

Ha! How about something like "Your use of the emoji here lends verisimilitude to this post, leading us to conclude that you are not a bot."

[@NolaLee]

Wait, if the emoji I posted lent verisimilitude to my post, how could you CONCLUDE that I am not a bot (which I am not)? The verisimilitude the emoji gave you is the feeling that I am likely a real person, which means by definition, your conclusion should've been that I'm not...I'm actually a bot :)

[@SWLF]

@@NolaLee Ha! OK, we're totally confused here, Nola! But good use of verisimilitude...