That was a very good article. I've wanted to read something like that for a very long time, but it's very difficult to find such material of very hiqh quality.
To whoever posted this, thank you very much.
Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
31–40 of 156 posts
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#32This reminds me of an English teacher I had in high school who disallowed us from using a list of banned words in a writing assignment. In previous assignments students had overused them to pad their word count and to inflate the apparent sophistication of their vocabulary. Among these words were "basically" and "essentially" which he told us were garbage words (as far as essay-writing as concerned). It stuck with me…
well Macie at the end of the day it worked for Dickens and Dumas :-)
Apologizes for using footballer speak :-)
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#33Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#34OCR'd it since I'm going to add it to my dotfiles. Might help somebody:
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#35Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#36Is "very, very" okay? Or "really really"? I use that a lot.
Nope, anything you use a lot loses its punch. (That's the idea behind the article)
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#37I was always bothered by the overuse of the word "pretty" on the Internet in place of "very." As a non-native English speaker, I grew up thinking of pretty as synonym of beautiful. Now that I see everyone using it as they would use very, I find it hard to parse.
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#38This 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…
There's a difference in meaning between "he ran home" and "he was running home." Most people aren't aware enough of the language they use to avoid overusing certain things, but mechanical transformations aren't the answer. One should aspire to learn how language works, and then use it appropriately.
Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#39Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
#40I was always bothered by the overuse of the word "pretty" on the Internet in place of "very." As a non-native English speaker, I grew up thinking of pretty as synonym of beautiful. Now that I see everyone using it as they would use very , I find it hard to parse.
It's not used in place of "very", it means "somewhat" or "mostly". "Pretty good" means not all good but not all bad either. If a server at a restaurant asks you, "How is your meal?" and you respond, "Pretty good", you should be prepared to have them ask, "What's wrong with it?"