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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.
by Eupraxias 4y ago
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 ourselves to be conscious of word choice. When we become conscious of it, we stop saying "very" quite naturally.
And we start using annoying words like "quite".
For anyone trying to sound like they have a better grasp of English, definitely lose the "very".
Here's an example: which is better? "gregarious" or "very outgoing"?
(It's a trick question - they're both bad... the correct answer is "outgoing")
If you want to sound actually smart, remove words like "very", and don't change "outgoing" to "gregarious". The only people who use "gregarious" in a normal conversation are people who are trying to sound smart. A smart person is conscious of how to avoid using pretentious words in normal conversation. Smart people usually don't _need_ to demonstrate that they are smart.
To sound intelligent, simply use the tone of your voice to indicate that you could say "very", but instead you just say "outgoing" - perhaps with some inflection or cadence variation. Smart people notice when someone omits words like "very", because they have been faced with the same issue.
- greenthrow 4y agoThis is very bad advice.
- Eupraxias 4y agoSee, 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.
- KaiserPro 4y agoits 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.
- Eupraxias 4y agoI 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.
- kirkules 4y agoCommunication is inherently subjective, and the subjective content conveyed by "very" above was part of the intended message.
- monkey_monkey 4y agoIt's very very bad advice.
- KaiserPro 4y agowhoooooosh is the sound of a joke flying overhead. > Smart people notice when someone omits words like "very", because they struggle with the same issue. Snobs notice. You are confusing snobbery with intelligence. there is nothing wrong with very, some people obviously are very passionate about it's use. However to imply its as detrimental to conveyed intellect as a malapropism is frankly bollocks[1]. Keep using very, it'll make you happy. [1]imply it makes you sound stupid, like you've got a word wrong, for my ESL friends
- kabouseng 4y agoSmart people simply don't waste their time with such trite considerations such as this. Smart / Successful people achieve success on an international stage, and rub shoulders with a large amount of non-native English speaking people who are absolutely brilliant, but might not have the vocabulary of a native speaker. As such they try to limit to speech to be as simple and clear as possible.
- Eupraxias 4y agoCorrect, they don't waste their time. It is baked in.
- circlefavshape 4y agoAre you following your own advice? You don't sound smart, you sound smug
- kirkules 4y ago"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.
- Eupraxias 4y agoI 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.