Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#1

Post by geeku » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:09 PM UTC

Ways to avoid using the word 'very'
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Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#2

Post by jeremysmyth » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:25 PM UTC

But what if I want to say "very terrified"?

As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English, we've already got "very", and "damn" as the site mentions, along with "really", "extremely", "amazingly" and so on. In British English, you can say "bloody" or "damnedly" or "shockingly" or "terribly" or any of a vast number of other superlatives, not to ignore the crass "fucking".

My favourite has to be the French "vachement", which could be translated as "cowly".

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#3

Post by vezzy-fnord » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:26 PM UTC

Quite useful, I'll say.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#4

Post by tptacek » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:26 PM UTC

Consider not using the word "sagacious", though.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#5

Post by mcv » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:27 PM UTC

Is "very, very" okay? Or "really really"? I use that a lot.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#6

Post by ozh » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:28 PM UTC

jeremysmyth wrote: post #2

But what if I want to say "very terrified"? As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English, we've already got "very", and "damn" as the site mentions, along with "really", "extremely", "amazingly" and so on. In British English, you can say "bloody" or "damnedly" or "shockingly" or "terribly" or any of a vast number of other superlatives, not to ignore…

such translation! cowly awesome!

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#7

Post by cliveowen » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:28 PM UTC

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.

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#8

Post by tptacek » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:28 PM UTC

jeremysmyth wrote: post #2

But what if I want to say "very terrified"? As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English, we've already got "very", and "damn" as the site mentions, along with "really", "extremely", "amazingly" and so on. In British English, you can say "bloody" or "damnedly" or "shockingly" or "terribly" or any of a vast number of other superlatives, not to ignore…

Terrified isn't a gradable adjective (it appears to be a textbook example, in fact).

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#9

Post by Zikes » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:29 PM UTC

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

Re: Ways to avoid using the word 'very'

#10

Post by tptacek » Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 5:29 PM UTC

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.