In elementary school, I was exhorted to avoid "flabby words" when possible. i.e. words that lengthen without adding meaning. "Very" is often such a word, but not always.
Replace the “very” in your sentence
271–280 of 295 posts
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#272As a native speaker, my reply is: no[1] Firstly this appears to be a way to boast about the size of your vocabulary. That's great, but, frankly you are walking into a bigarsed zone of unintended connotations. Its more than likely to do the exact opposite. Second, half of the suggestions are wrong. for example "very ashamed" is not the same as repentant. shame and regret are two similar things, but not the same. same…
The point is that when you use "very", you reveal that you have not attained that level of intellect which realizes that "very" is extraneous almost every time. This insight usually comes with a large amount of time invested in reading challenging books. It has little to do with expansive vocabulary, and more to do with understanding word choice and avoiding pretension. We pick "very" when we have not trained ourselv…
"very" is a comparing/contrasting word. "Outgoing" is not a replacement for "very outgoing" any more than "tall" is a replacement for "more tall than usual". And yes, I modulated the tone of my voice there.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is very bad advice.
See, it sounds much more conclusive to say... This is bad advice. Adding "very" is subjective. Omitting makes it sound like fact. All of this push-back is... cute.
Communication is inherently subjective, and the subjective content conveyed by "very" above was part of the intended message.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#274Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
See, it sounds much more conclusive to say... This is bad advice. Adding "very" is subjective. Omitting makes it sound like fact. All of this push-back is... cute.
its still bad advice, babes. adding very doesn't make it subjective. the whole sentence is subjective. the very is a modifier that indicates the person saying thinks its really quite bad. Don't hate on adverbs.
I love it!
Correct, it is subjective. But removing the "very" makes it _sound_ objective. It's more of a declaration than an "I think". And isn't this all about how something comes across, how it sounds, how it affects someone else?
Try it out, my advice is sound!
(...vs, Try it out, my advice is very sound!)
This topic reminds me of how exclamation marks are used, and how inclusion or omission changes the flavor of written sentences that contain the same words.
For example, "Try it out, my advice is sound." tastes different than "Try it out, my advice is sound!". The "very" betrays lack of conviction - the speaker is still trying to convince.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#276As a native speaker, my reply is: no[1] Firstly this appears to be a way to boast about the size of your vocabulary. That's great, but, frankly you are walking into a bigarsed zone of unintended connotations. Its more than likely to do the exact opposite. Second, half of the suggestions are wrong. for example "very ashamed" is not the same as repentant. shame and regret are two similar things, but not the same. same…
Also, a great vocabulary is actually a disadvantage for non-native speakers if your pronunciation is not there yet, it's more likely to confuse than impress.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#277As a native speaker, my reply is: no[1] Firstly this appears to be a way to boast about the size of your vocabulary. That's great, but, frankly you are walking into a bigarsed zone of unintended connotations. Its more than likely to do the exact opposite. Second, half of the suggestions are wrong. for example "very ashamed" is not the same as repentant. shame and regret are two similar things, but not the same. same…
I think the best way to sound well read is to just read more. It's very easy to spot when someone doesn't quite know the connotations of the words they use[1]. It's also hard to pick up those connotations without being exposed to the words in their natural "habitat".
[1] It's exaggerated, but you basically sound like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9xuTYrfrWM
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is that when you use "very", you reveal that you have not attained that level of intellect which realizes that "very" is extraneous almost every time. This insight usually comes with a large amount of time invested in reading challenging books. It has little to do with expansive vocabulary, and more to do with understanding word choice and avoiding pretension. We pick "very" when we have not trained ourselv…
"very" is a comparing/contrasting word. "Outgoing" is not a replacement for "very outgoing" any more than "tall" is a replacement for "more tall than usual". And yes, I modulated the tone of my voice there.
I agree, and was being hyperbolic. There are times when "very" is... very useful, and not just useful.
I guess I just always say "wicked" instead. It's wicked better.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#279As a native speaker, my reply is: no[1] Firstly this appears to be a way to boast about the size of your vocabulary. That's great, but, frankly you are walking into a bigarsed zone of unintended connotations. Its more than likely to do the exact opposite. Second, half of the suggestions are wrong. for example "very ashamed" is not the same as repentant. shame and regret are two similar things, but not the same. same…
While I wouldn't use it like this in day to day speech, in rhetorical speech the use of "very" repeatedly can be used to emphasise a point.
Someone warning against dangerous driving might say "a car at speed can be dangerous because it's very heavy, it's going very fast and so it's very likely to kill or give life changing injuries to somebody if it collides with them."
I think it has a better effect when spoken than when written, though.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#280I find https://www.wordhippo.com/ a much superior vocabulary discovery tool. It has myriad (very many) recommendations for "very late" whereas losetheevery.com has none.