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Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

writerswrite.co.za

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Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#21

Post by Zikes »

tptacek wrote: post #10
cliveowen wrote: post #7

This naturally lends itself to being implemented inside a tool that searches for the word "very" in a text and if the next word is one of those listed, replaces both with that occurrence.

Yeah, the list of alternates doesn't do much for me, but the notion of doing an edit pass looking for "very" so I can spot bad sentences does sound useful.

Sounds like something that could be integrated into that Hemingway [1] tool that was posted here a few days ago.

Edit: It looks like the tool already marks "very" for omission.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7223969

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#24

Post by Zikes »

bagosm wrote: post #18
Zikes wrote: post #9

'Very' isn't necessarily a bad modifier, it just shouldn't be used very often.

Tee hee you used it! Really though, I think there is a big difference between "Very tired" and "exhausted". Although the technical mind I think is bugged more about precision rather than flow or poeticness of speech Ι think we can appreciate it...

Especially in certain situations like "I'm not very tired".

Offhand you could say "I'm not overly tired" or "I'm not too tired", but those could subtly change the meaning of what you're trying to say or sound unnatural in everyday speech.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#26

Post by JadeNB »

The advice attributed to Kleinbaum is actually from the movie Dead Poets Society, written by Tom Schulman (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165). Googling for "Kleinbaum + Dead Poets Society" suggests that it is a novelisation that came later: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Poets-Society-N-Kleinbaum/dp/1401....

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#27

Post by dpcan »

This is a good list and lesson.

I remember learning about this in my creative writing classes in college, and the other great tip we got at about the same time was to do something similar when writing in past tense by ditching the "ings" and changing references like "he was running home" with "he ran home" or "she was burning the papers" with "she burned the papers". It turns out that too many "ings" can make a story drag.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#29

Post by JetSpiegel »

coenhyde wrote: post #17

When I first moved to America, my speech was interpreted as not enthusiastic. A trick I use to now is to just put very in front of everything. I'm very happy that this fixed the problem.

I thought that was, like, common knowledge. Everybody, like, speaks like that.
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