Close to home

(Photo: Free-Photos/Pixabay | Text: David/ArtisanEnglish.jp)

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Phrase: Close to home

In the West, we perceive many world happenings as occurring over there.

‘There’ being anywhere that is not the West.

Events are starting to hit close to home.


When something affects you personally or deeply, it hits close to home.


We have either denied or ignored climate change for a long time while other, less fortunate countries suffered its effects.

Massive typhoons hit the Philippines, causing much damage, but we say that is because the buildings are not built to our standards.

Well, we have begun to think otherwise.

Three typhoons have hit close to home in the last few years.

First, Kansai experienced the strongest one in 50 years.

It caused much damage to buildings, even in Osaka.

Here in Wakayama, I lost power for three days.

High water caused flooding in Kobe.

A tanker ship was pushed into and severely damaged the bridge connecting Kansai Airport to the mainland, requiring it to be closed.

Then, two more typhoons hit the Tokyo area, causing flooding and much damage.

When something affects you personally or deeply, it hits close to home.

Harsh words can also hit close to home.

As of now, the world may enter into a recession or even depression.

Millions of people in Britain and the US have lost their jobs.

Comments they are lazy or lax not to have any savings indeed hit close to home.

No one predicted this pandemic.

During these uncertain times, we should all think twice before we comment on the circumstances of others.

Yes, they may be experiencing difficult times, but it could very well be us tomorrow.

The bottom line is we never know when misfortune is going to hit close to home.

We should be mindful of what we say to others and of what is going on around us.

Sometimes, things that seem so far away can very quickly hit close to home.


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 74.

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.



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