Question 1: As an example of undistinguished speech, read aloud the following explanation given by an executive who arrived late for a meeting. Each of the italicized words and expressions in this paragraph can be replaced by a more expressive and more suitable word. Try your skill in improving the executive’s explanation by replacing all the italicized words and expressions with words of your own selection. I’m sorry I got here so late, but I couldn’t get here any earlier. I got a faxed message from Washington just as I was getting ready to leave, and I had to get off a reply at once. I tried to get a call through, but I got tired of waiting and finally got a fax on its way. Before I could get out of the office, I got a call from my sister. She had just gotten word that our father had gotten hurt in an automobile accident. When I finally got down to the garage, I found I had forgotten to get gas, so I had to get a taxi. It’s a wonder I got here at all. Questions 2–9: Give an appropriate synonym for the italicized word in each of the following sentences. 2. We attended a wonderful performance of Shakespeare’s King Richard III. 3. The picnic took place on a wonderful afternoon in May in an orchard by a lake. 4. The pasta dishes at the new restaurant in the park are wonderful. 5. Due to the heavy snow, the company was closed and we spent a wonderful day at home. 6. The new employee has a wonderful personality. 7. Even though the play was on Broadway, the performance we saw was terrible. 8. It’s a terrible article, mostly because the author doesn’t know his subject well. 9. The food at the new restaurant is terrible. Questions 10–13: Give a synonym for the italicized word in each of the following sentences. 10. You could tell that his mother was angry with him by the way she was looking at him. 11. In an effort to find the leak, the plumber looked at the pipes with care. 12. She looked at the police officer who told her that her stolen car had been found. 13. For a period of five hours, the scientist looked at the surface of the water.