Every language group has their favourite words—words that prevail about others. I have found as a speaking examiner that the candidates whose native language is Italian have a preference for an all-encompassing umbrella adjective. This adjective is ‘important’. It is so important that it may be one of the few words I remember after long hours of listening to candidates in exam conditions. Everything, or mostly everything, is important. So many things are important that I know not of anything which is not important. Now, paradoxically ‘important’ has lost its importance. It has been worn out. If we were to give this infamously important word a break and use other equally important synonyms, ‘important’ would gain back its importance and learners would increase their vocabulary and candidates would improve their performance in exams—higher scores, higher band marks.
Don’t you think this is important?
Do you have any words that you feel you overuse? Which word is it?
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