In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school. In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as
The latest word is one found in the bottom half of the list of popular words used in English. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary places its first appearance in 1513, Dictionary.com in the 1590's, Oxford dictionary in the late 16th century, while Collins' (Collins Cobuild) online dictionary shows the popularity of this rarely used word peaking in 1860 at a frequency of 0.3.
Meaning
a) if used with a capital letter "h", it refers to Hercules (see the Greek origin section below)
b) "herculean" with a lower-case letter is an adjective used to describe something or someone of tremendous
- power
- strength
- courage
- determination
- intensity
- effort
- difficulty
Examples
1) a herculean task / problem
2) a man of herculean proportions
3) put herculean effort into something
Greek origin
The Romans slightly altered the Greek Heracles (Ηρακλής) to create Hercules, their hero and god with slight adaptations from the original stories they borrowed from Greek mythology. Heracles was born of Alcmene and Zeus who, being his usual self as always, took on Alcmene's husband's form and seduced Alcmene. Cavorting for the umpteenth time, Zeus managed to make his wife, Hera, livid but instead of becoming the recipient of her wrath, it was poor Heracles who was driven insane by her one fine day and killed his own wife and children. To compensate for this fit of madness, he was counseled by the oracle at Delphi to atone for his sin by serving King Eurystheus. The latter gave him ten formidable feats to accomplish, which were completed in 10 years, then manipulated him into performing two more. The sum of these twelve feats are known as the Labors of Heracles / Labors of Hercules and it is generally because of their difficulty that the adjective herculean has taken on its meaning.
Synonyms
a) arduous, challenging, demanding, rigorous, exacting, laborious, burdensome
b) enormous, gigantic, heroic, monumental
c) bulky, formidable, handsome, imposing
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