Your teacher is, to put it bluntly, STUPID. I was using words like that when I was in 9th grade! Words like the ones you mentioned were considered basic level words in my AP English Language class when I was in 11th (I'm a college sophomore now).

I find your teacher ...hmmm . . . shallow and pedantic.

Your teacher probably doesn't even know what a thesaurus is, they might think it's a dinosaur...they should fire your teacher and let you teach the class!

Punishing the smart? Yep, that sounds like the US school system.

tell your teacher that you're in AP for a reason.. even tho none of thoes words arent even sophisticated.. if all else fails, talk to te principal b/c your teacher is a quack

I'm gonna have to side with the teacher. There's no way an 11th grade AP student could spell plagiarism correctly!!!

Those words are actually very simple, and I'm sure everyone knows them, even people whose first language isn't English. Which leads me to the conclusion that either the reason you were accused of plagiarism was something else, but you don't want to admit it to yourself, or your teacher is a paranoid idiot. In my experience, I'd say it's the former.

Wow, really? I was using those words in 5th grade. I could spell "mustache" correctly in 2nd grade too. Your teacher should not be teaching an AP class if you're more advanced than her.

AP stands for Advanced Placement for those who don't know, the classes give students a chance for college credits while still in highschool.

Your teacher is a twat, OP. He/She has no grounds to make such assumptions.