Hello everyone!

It’s been much too long since I contributed to the tutor column, and I apologize to you all.  My only excuse is that it’s been a tough summer for us (involving a cross-country move, some family medical emergencies, and some REALLY horrible weather).  However, the good news is that our family has successfully navigated through all of it.

Speaking of “horrible weather,” you have probably suffered from extremely high summer temperatures and violent storms just as we have in the central United States.  This week, for example, SEVEN TORNADOS occurred in my area within a 36-hour period!

Yet, incredible as it seems, I still encounter people who reject the concept of global warming.  Sadly, stupidity knows no international boundaries.

                                            “It was a big, very bad storm.”

                               “It was an enormous, horrendously bad storm.”

Now, which of these sentences most successfully communicates the storm’s severity?  I think you get my point: don't over-simplify your writing to the point of diminishing its impact.

 If you have a weak English vocabulary, you may have some difficulty creating more expressive English sentences.  A good source of help is actually a volume intended to increase your score on the TOEIC examination:

                                                          TOEIC VOCABULARY PREP

                                         Kaplan Publishing Company, New York (2015)

This is a concise yet comprehensive book containing idioms and phrasal verbs as well as individual vocabulary words, and it’s available on Amazon.

 Be happy... stay safe... and I’ll “see” you again next month (I promise).

Art