“Plethora” is a word often found in English literature and academic writing, and yet it is one that careful students should think twice about using in their college application essays.

While “plethora” literally refers to “a large or excessive amount of (something),” it carries a connotation of excess, rather than simply abundance. It does not mean “a lot”. It indicates “too many or too much” instead.

Here is an example: “The campus library offers a plethora of resources, from rare manuscripts to cutting-edge research databases.” By using  “plethora,” the sentence emphasizes the overwhelming availability of materials.

The word has appeared in various literary works. In his famous novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Oscar Wilde writes, “He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time. Besides, he had a plethora of excuses.” Wilde uses “plethora” here to convey the protagonist Dorian Gray’s indulgent and often exaggerated justifications.

However, when writing college application essays, students should be cautious about using the word “plethora.”

Since we need our college application essays to sound natural and genuine, it is better to choose words that we would commonly use in daily conversation, rather than flowery or pretentious ones. The use of “plethora” can often come across as a bit pretentious, as if we have swallowed a thesaurus just to use a fancy word.

Consider this example from an college application essay: “During my junior year of high school, I faced a significant challenge when I was appointed as the lead organizer for the school’s annual science fair. With a plethora of tasks to manage, the pressure quickly mounted.”

Instead of using “plethora,” we could rewrite the second sentence as follows, “With so many tasks piling up, the pressure quickly built up.” This version is more concise and maintains a confident and conversational tone.

“Plethora” 是一个在英语文学和学术写作中常见的词汇，但在写大学申请文书时，细心的学生应该尽量避免使用它。

“Plethora”字面意思是指“大量或过多”，它暗含“过多”的意味，而不仅是丰富。它并不是指“很多”，而是指“太多”。

举个例子：“校园图书馆提供了大量资源，从珍贵的手稿到前沿的研究数据库。”通过使用“plethora”，这句话强调了图书馆资源的极度丰富。

这个词也出现在许多文学作品中。在他的小说名著《格雷画像》中，奥斯卡·王尔德写道：“他总是故意迟到，他的原则是，准时是时间的小偷。此外，他有一堆借口。”王尔德在这里使用“plethora”，以表现格雷那种放纵且常常夸大的辩解。

然而，在写大学申请文书时，建议学生们应该谨慎使用“plethora”这个词。

大学申请文书需要听起来自然和真诚，所以最好选择那些日常对话中常用的英文词，而不是那些华丽或做作的词汇。“Plethora”听上去有一点做作，像是我们为了显示词汇量而故意用的。

以下是一个大学申请文书的例子：“During my junior year of high school, I faced a significant challenge when I was appointed as the lead organizer for the school’s annual science fair. With a plethora of tasks to manage, the pressure quickly mounted.”

与其使用“plethora”，我们可以将第二句改写为：“With so many tasks piling up, the pressure quickly built up.”相比上一个版本，这个版本更简洁，听上去也更自信和自然。