Today we are going to go over some of the aspects regarding TOEFL vocabulary.
The key when writing for the TOEFL is not to be redundant, meaning not to use the same words too often. That is how your TOEFL vocabulary is measured. If you repeat yourself to often it will affect your TOEFL writing score negatively.
For example:
Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever. Jordan was slam dunk master.
A better way to write this sentence would be:
Basketball star Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever and slam dunk master.
Eliminate Unnecessary Adverbs
Words like: Really, Very, Quite, Extremely, Severely, Truly
Bad sentence: John has been quite ill for a really long time.
Good sentence: John has been ill for a long time.
Eliminate or Replace Meaningless Adjectives
Words like: Good, Nice, Bad, Okay, Important, Significant
Bad sentence: Suzy is a good teacher who makes a significant impact on her students and faculty.
Good sentence: Suzy is a talented teacher who makes an impact on her students and faculty.
All things considered, it seems like the new tax cut imposed by the administration will without a doubt make the wealthy wealthier and the poor poorer. When the administration’s new tax cut is passed, the children living in poverty will be affected the worst.
Better way to put it would be.
The new tax cut imposed by the administration will undoubtedly make the wealthy wealthier and the poor poorer. Consequently, children living in poverty will be severely affected.
Often times, phrases that we say in conversation show up in our writing. Many of these phrases can be eliminated without taking away from the meaning of the sentence. Also, try not to repeat yourself in the following sentence. With these two ideas in mind, the writing will become tighter and more concise.
The key is to paraphrase and use a variety of words even though they basically mean the same thing, by doing so you will have a rich TOEFL vocabulary.
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