When you are required to talk about impacts in the DSE English exam, do you always use keywords like serious impact/ serious problem/ serious situation? In addition to ‘serious’, you can try using this vocabulary!

 

1. Critical

 

The firefighter is in critical condition after helping bring a house fire under control.

 

2. Dire

 

Think carefully before making the decision. It will have dire consequences for the whole company.

 

3. Desperate

 

Being lost in a forest at night is a desperate situation. There is no light, no food, and no device to tell the direction.

 

4. Grievous

 

The influential musician’s death is a grievous loss to the whole music industry.

 

5. Pressing

 

Providing more affordable housing, a pressing need for people in Hong Kong, is unlikely to happen.

 

6. Disastrous

 

The flood has brought a disastrous impact on the crops, livestock, and other properties.

 

7. Beyond remedy

 

It’s too late to discover the problem and it has been beyond remedy.