Art and culture

What holds these lists together

Lists for what gets said when a painting, a play, a concert or a recording is not just taken in but discussed: the working words of painting, music, theatre, photography and print. They belong together because they share one situation — you stand before a work with the everyday words for it, but not the ones used by the people who made it. And because so many share Latin or Greek roots with English, they look simpler than they are. La partition is the score, not a dividing wall; la répétition is a rehearsal; and un tableau is simply a painting, where English keeps the word for a posed scene.

For example: le diapason (the concert pitch), côté cour (stage left), le tissu (the fabric), le dessin de caractère (the type design), l’argile (the clay), l’angle de l’article (the angle of the story)

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.