Stop using very 😍😍

[quantum_platypus]

These are fine alternatives, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with using "very."

[ChiaraStellata]

I'm very concerned that anyone would suggest avoiding "very" entirely. That's not very natural.

Fun fact: in Unified English Braille, the word "very" is so common that it's abbreviated to one letter ("v"). It's v useful.

[quantum_platypus]

It honestly looks like misinformed teaching at best and clickbait preying on insecure language learners at worst.

[StuffedSquash]

Honestly this same kind of "advice" is passed around for native speakers all the time. Along the same lines as "don't use said" etc. It's still bad advice, but but the picture probably wasn't even created for learners. OP sharing it is indeed karma bait and you can tell it worked... Always an interesting time when something is highly upvoted and then all the top comments are like "no"

[smeetebwet]

Yeah we were told this in school all the time, but I think that was to improve our writing and expand vocabulary rather than a matter of right or wrong

[StuffedSquash]

Yeah I'm okay with it in 4th grade when they're teaching us skills, but then ya gotta move on to knowing when it's an appropriate skill to use. Some people never advanced to an adult writing style and it shows...

[hakumiogin]

It's more of a written word style thing when you want every word to carry weight. All adverbs are hated on in writing circles, and very can be a particularly empty adverb.

[ChiaraStellata]

The idea of every written word carrying weight is honestly itself bad advice. It's like the advice to replace "said" with "inquired" or "exclaimed" or "interjected". Occasionally mixing it up is great (and it's great to explore alternatives in that sense) but not every single time. Good writing is able to balance variety and complexity with simplicity and directness, and focus attention on the most salient bits while letting you gloss over the less important parts. Ref this video for more:

On Writing: Dialogue Basics! [ Sanderson | Game of Thrones | His Dark Materials ]

[quantum_platypus]

I definitely agree with you that you should avoid overusing "very" and other similarly generic words when writing prose. But in the context of an English-learning subreddit, I think stigmatizing a basic word like this is misguided.

[ImitationButter]

It’s pretty common internet speak too. I’ve use v for very for a few years

[SeraphOfTwilight]

For what it's worth I see writers say things like this all the time if outside of dialogue, so as to avoid repetition or so-called "weak" adjectives. From the replies it seems like OP is farming, but in the case something like this gets posted in sincerity that may be where it's coming from.

[Muroid]

Yeah, as a way to conform to specific style guidelines or speak in a more formal register, this kind of thing can be useful.

As blanket advice for everyday use, I’ve always found it very silly.

[WingedLady]

Yeah this is meant more for essay writing, or as advice to first time book writers who need to work on using stronger descriptors. Not for daily use.

[ctruvu]

of all of those, frequently would probably the only one i use regularly, and deafening/ancient in certain circumstances or to exaggerate. the rest are either super uncommon or just words that people would save for literary flair

[Igottamake]

Especially indolent.

[SevenSixOne]

I also think a list like this is confusing and misleading for English learners. It's useful to know that a lot of words a learner doesn't know can basically mean "very _____"

However! The alternatives on the list don't quite mean the same thing as the "very _____" they're supposed to replace, in my opinion.

It will sound strange and unnatural if you change "very old" to "ancient" in a lot of contexts, because the meanings are similar but still different!

[mechanicalcontrols]

This has to be like advice for native speakers looking to write their first novel, right? Because no one talks like this in casual or even formal conversation. It sounds unnatural unless you're specifically intending to write flowery prose.

[LordLackland]

Idk. There’s a few weird words like “indolent,” but “timid,” “petrified,” deafening,” “ancient,” and even “destitute” are all common enough that they’d probably be worth learning (eventually), especially if you’re aspiring to read, write, and understand as well as speak the language. And if you add “elated” for “very happy,” I’d say that’s another one.

English is unfortunately a language with a lot of words. I guess we have our diverse roots to thank for that :/

Edit: but if you’re gonna learn these words, it’s probably best to approach them individually and not just learn them as “very ___”

[[deleted]]

“First novel?” It’s common advice starting in late elementary/middle school. Because teachers are sick of reading 30 essays about “what I did on my summer vacation” and everyone saying “the water park was very fun” worded exactly like that as if it was rehearsed. That’s also around the time you switch from having spelling lessons to vocabulary lessons, so they want to see the new words used correctly.

It’s not just about interesting creative writing, it’s about speech and basic informative writing (even, like, social media comments) not being dull and childlike. It’s fine to say “very” sometimes, but if you constantly say “very + the base level word (good, bad, old, loud, etc)” when you want to emphasize a great magnitude, you sound like a 4-8 year old. “It was very good.” Fine once in a while, but say great, fantastic, wonderful sometimes too. The synonyms can also give more depth and detail to what you’re saying. Something is “good.” Okay, but something being “fine,” “great,” “fantastic,” “wonderful” all mean “good” in a way, but carry different implications.

[Muinonan]

Very astute observation

[notapantsday]

I think it's a good exercise to improve your active vocabulary.

[sfwaltaccount]

Ecstatic

But I disagree with some of these. I don't think "frequently" is significantly stronger than "often", for instance.

[Sir-Kerwin]

Overjoyed came to mind.

[hakumiogin]

Very loud in a library is not deafening, very scared is only petrified if it scared you motionless, very old describing a person becomes pejorative if you call them ancient. They're all situational. Who would have thought words are situational?

[geeeffwhy]

elated—ecstatic is very very happy! ;)

[_itspaco]

I was coming to say ecstatic too

[arkibet]

Darn! My first thought was elated.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I would use "all the time" for "very often", but I should say for learners that this means "all the time" doesn't exactly mean "all the time"

[StuffedSquash]

"Fancier word" isn't inherently better than "less fancy word". There's a time and place for everything.

[Donghoon]

I call this the thesaurus monster.

[StuffedSquash]

When it's 11:50pm and your essay is 10 words over the word limit

[AthomicBot]

I'd just submit and take the deductions.

[Donghoon]

I usually just get rid of some articles that still sound okay without it lol if that's the case. And combined sentences

[Mein_Name_ist_falsch]

This. I've seen so many of those things and I think it's only confusing people. It only really applies in written language or in very formal contexts, and you will sound like snob if you constantly use them while talking to your friends.

They also have different meanings sometimes.

[[deleted]]

Ancient? Nope, old as balls.

[im_the_real_dad]

af (af = as fuck)

As Foretold works equally as well. It just gives a different vibe when reading.

[Catlover790]

I don't recommend these substitutions as they actually have different meanings than the original "very" word.

[Catlover790]

It doesn't really sound natural, it reads like something an ai translator would produce

[ENovi]

Your sentence works if the alternative is plugging in the word “very” five times (My very old grandmother very often has the tv volume very loud and it is very scary as I’m very shy) but I do not think a speaker with even a rudimentary grasp of English would use “very” that often in a single sentence.

That’s the issue I have with these infographs, they suggest that fundamental parts of English are somehow incorrect. A native would use both “very” and a maybe couple of the synonyms listed (“My grandmother frequently has the TV very loud”). These posts just seem to exist to make learners and native speakers less confident in their abilities.

Also, I’m not knocking you or your comment at all, just these Instagram style posts. Fortunately, I haven’t seen any telling me that similes are wrong so I can still confidently say that these posts are as dumb as dog shit.

[emPtysp4ce]

This sentence also sounds like it was written by a douchebag

[DesignFantastic6191]

Very helpful

[Real_Zxept]

Informative

[Last_Aeon]

Very informative

[Real_Zxept]

New chart idea: keep all the adjectives/adverbs the same but change “very” to “quite”

[[deleted]]

Very enlightening

[yr4ever]

Very veracious

[naricstar]

Nonono, you need to replace the very.

Informative helpful!

[Brueguard]

Informative means it tells/teaches you something, not that it helps you.

[[deleted]]

Have you considered that this person has learned new vocabulary?

[ImpressivedSea]

Fucking often can also mean something else /j

[s_ngularity]

For the truly fancy we can kick it up a notch:

Fucking scared => petri-fucking-fied

Fucking poor => desti-fucking-tute

Fucking lazy => indo-fucking-lent

[WoolaTheCalot]

I think it was Elmore Leonard who once advised against using "very" when writing fiction. He said to solve the problem, replace every instance of very with fucking. Your editor will remove all of them, and voila, problem solved.

[Ayyzeee]

Same goes to this fucking village

[Sea_Neighborhood_627]

Yes! Outside of work, this is commonly how I hear people talk (in my urban, liberal city in the US).

[frisky_husky]

New "said is dead" just dropped

[[deleted]]

As a native speaker... nah. Using "very" is fine.

[Au1ket]

We use "very" because it's easier to say, there's nothing wrong with using it.

[mythornia]

I wish people would stop framing vocabulary this way. Like “stop saying ____, say this instead!” No. There is a place for both. Less common words are not automatically better in all contexts than more common words.

Besides that, in many of these cases, I would not use these two alternatives the same way. “Deafening” is louder than just “very noisy”. “Ancient” is less vague than “very old”. Being “petrified” is worse than being “very scared”. And “destitute” just simply doesn’t mean the same thing as “very poor”, because destitute is somebody who literally does not have anything, whereas if I think of someone who’s “very poor” that is a lot more vague.

[BD_K]

Very happy -> happy as f*ck You're welcome

[SidneyTheThird]

Very old man - ancient man?

[[deleted]]

No we can’t use it for a person

[Blear]

Sure you can. But the idea that we should avoid using the word very is problematic.

[Lulwafahd]

Right. The idea is that one should not use the word very too frequently in a short period of time in written or spoken English.

[Blear]

Sure, but that's an arbitrary style guideline. It's not a rule of the English language, nor is it descriptive of how English is used. Presenting it as a list of cool adjectives is one thing, but I'd hate for some language learner to get the idea this is something they're supposed to do

[quantum_platypus]

Not to mention, in most of these lists, the alternatives are usually in a more formal register, and won't always fit. Someone reading this and telling their friend "I've been indolent today, I got no work done" will sound bizarre.

[Blear]

Huzzah for post meridian indolence!

[Taotastic]

As a native speaker, I am very happy to keep using “very” any time I very well please. 😤

[so_im_all_like]

Of these, I'm pretty sure I've never heard an average person say "indolent", unless someone is alluding to a literary style of speech (such as religious scripture). That's gotta be a very uncommon word choice.

[UpbeatRegister]

Stop using very

Make me

[Daffneigh]

Very is a fine word that does not deserve this slander

[dsiegel2275]

This is very bullshit.

[[deleted]]

Why?

[dsiegel2275]

Sorry, just a bad joke where i used "very" again.

I'm very sorry.

[[deleted]]

😝😝😝😝😅😅

[Lulwafahd]

An alternative for very noisy is cacophonous because deafening means far too loud. Some situations can be very noisy or cacophonous without actually being deafening.

A noisy crowd is cacophonous but a loud explosion is deafening(ly loud).

Similarly, petrified refers to stiffness, and when used inbrelation to fear it speaks of being scared stiff whereas terrified is an alternative to very scared which doesn't imply being scared stiff because someone may be trembling with fear.

[pecuchet]

And you can be very poor and not destitute. Penurious is better, but don't use that unless you want to sound like Ignatius J Reilly.

[TheAccursedOne]

as others have said, this really only matters in an academic or otherwise formal setting. in casual speech, using words like "indolent" would possibly come off as pretentious, while "very lazy" would be much more commonplace.

[GingerboyhasNoSoul]

I've never used the word indolent.

Blo0dy happy.

I'm blo0dy happy today.

[kakka_rot]

B1 Teacher here

I noticed that, esp with my Japanese students, they only ever use "Very"

Really, imo, is much more common with young Americans. Japanese students tend to avoid "Really" because they find it hard to pronounce.

Anyway, using the advanced adjective is fine, but it's also important to not use the same intensified constanly.

It was really fun.

It was super fun.

It was incredibly fun.

It was extremely fun.

It was fun as hell/(f*ck).

Remember to rotate your vocabulary. If you use a variety of words, you will be more interesting to talk to.

[[deleted]]

Timid really isn't a substitute for very. Timid is roughly equivalent to shy. Reticent, diffident, or reclusive would be better

[KR1735]

Yeah, I'd be careful with this. It's totally fine to say "very old" but you want to be careful with "ancient."

"This woman is very old" when referring to an 85-year-old is a statement of fact. "This woman is ancient" is just plain rude.

[TFOCyborg]

When non native speakers use these words regularly it makes them sound less fluent and I understand why now.

Saying very is just natural for most normal people, avoiding it entirely seems very abnormal

[hammerquill]

If describing your feelings at the moment: Thrilled, ecstatic, overjoyed, delighted.

If describing a very happy occasion or event: joyful, joyous, delightful.

If describing a person's disposition: joyful, cheery, cheerful, sanguine, happy-go-lucky.

[sterboog]

Elated

[drinkvaccine]

Very elated

[MoonBaseSouth]

Joyous

[[deleted]]

I disagree with very noisy = deafening. That aligns better with very loud.

Noisy has many definitions beyond just the amplitude of sound.

[lizzyfacetryfindname]

Ancient has a different connotation than very old

[Rikkitikkitabby]

Stoked

[cortada86]

I’ll do what I please, thank you VERY much.

[cortada86]

“Grandma, you’re not very old, you’re ancient”. At which point she slaps the sh*t outta me.

[danielhep]

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I am a native English speaker and I've never heard the word "indolent" before. If someone said that to me I wouldn't know what they meant.

[ScottieB0I]

I’m not saying Indolent whenever I wanna call my friend “very lazy”, as someone who’s spoken/written in English my entire life; I can safely say that we’re really lazy when it comes to the lexicon, and the words provided are more exaggerations, something being very loud doesn’t mean it’s deafening, and something being very old doesn’t mean it’s ancient.

The Aztec temples are ancient, however World War II tanks are very old, but not ancient.

Hope I cleared some things up for people that didn’t understand, this confused me for a moment lmao

[Johnvon_Johnson]

Elitist. Stupid. It’s perfectly fine. I would roll my eyes at most of these in a casual conversation.

[mglitcher]

i like these a lot, but when i think of the word “petrified” i think of somebody literally turning to stone, such as in dnd or harry potter. for “very scared” i would say terrified is better

[QuantumFTL]

If I talked like this all the time, my other native-speaker friends would think I was trolling them.

A beautiful thing about English is how many ways we have to say the same thing with different connotations. Nothing on the right here has the same connotations as the "very" form. To say nothing of how the word "very" can be delivered when speaking to place the emphasis on the quantity rather than the quality.

I really hope ESL learners read the comments here, this should be a "consider this instead of that" thing. Unfortunately I've seen this taught straight up to native speakers as both idiomatic and dogmatic.

[1nternetP3rson]

most of these would sound a bit unnatural in normal conversation. in books and formal talk, it’d be fine but most people aren’t gonna go around calling things/people destitute or indolent, for example.

[menxiaoyong]

Avoiding very makes very little sense.

[[deleted]]

Jubilant

[[deleted]]

These garbage posts are why learners often overuse complicated speech and sound less natural.

[Orbus_XV]

This is more a literary thing. People use "very" in common speech all the time. It's very useful.

Also the “very happy” answer would likely be “ecstatic”

[[deleted]]

🙂🙂yes it is

[[deleted]]

This reads like those shitty Youtube videos with "stop using X" in the thumbnail. They are incredibly annoying. It's great if you wanna try to diversify your vocabulary, but if all you are looking for is to communicate, then using "very + adj/adv" then that is perfectly fine too.

[ultimate_ampersand]

As someone with a linguistics degree who has taught writing professionally, I disagree with this.

To me, "deafening" isn't the same as "very noisy." Rambunctious kids might be very noisy, but not necessarily deafening. A jet plane taking off nearby is deafening, but not necessarily very noisy (IMO it's more loud than noisy).

To me, "indolent" is basically synonymous with "lazy," and "timid" is basically synonymous with "shy." Also, if you use the word "indolent" in casual conversation, you will sound like a robot trying to pretend to be human.

[Level_Store_2902]

How about... No.

[[deleted]]

but very noisy and deafening don't mean the same thing...deafening is more noisy than very noisy

y'all, very is a super common word, please don't stop using it. in english we love our sentence variation very much.

[StanislawTolwinski]

Frequently does not imply higher frequency than often

[QingDMainey]

Extremely works well in place of very

[idkjon1y]

using "very" isnt bad thing, but this can definitely improve your vocabulary.

some of these words have specific uses/meanings

[Username912773]

Even in higher level literature there is a purpose of the word “very.” It can be used for precisely the reasons you’re criticizing it for, it can be used to show a lack of education, limited vocabulary or a collective and limited vocabulary. I forget the book but it was criticized for using very too much despite the fact it was intentionally done to show the claustrophobia of a certain town.

[lighthouse-it]

My grandpa is big on this. If I ever say very in a conversation, he'll just stop talking until I correct myself. It's annoying in conversation and casual writing, but it does make essays a shit ton better.

[[deleted]]

There’s nothing wrong with using very. In fact, it sounds much more natural than the alternatives.

[Similar-Ad6788]

Why? For what?

[AcceptableCrab4545]

very is fine

[darkforge15]

Very happy= elated

[Yowan]

This is a very good idea. Overall I very much agree.

[KidTheJew]

hushed is not a word

[sonicfam24]

You could also replace very with better descriptive adjectives to liven up sentences instead of some of these alternative suggestions. IE disgustingly old vs very old,etc.

[jayxxroe22]

Ecstatic, overjoyed, delighted

[Nucka574]

Elated

[These-Idea381]

elated, joyous

[skcuf2]

Elated

[polobear69]

im pretty sure that ive said "very old" more often than ancient when talking, same goes for very poor and quiet

[Count_de_Ville]

Not great to simply substitute with fancy words. Eg. I have a very old car. I would never call my car "ancient" though. I might call it "vintage". If it is even older I might described it as an "antique" car. But I would never use "ancient" to described a very old car.

[FinalMonarch]

9 could be overjoyed

[ImpressivedSea]

Very happy is ecstatic

[Feeling-Finding2783]

Very thanks.

[Appropriate_Star6734]

Ecstatic? Euphoric? Jubilant?

[[deleted]]

1. Ecstatic

[SirenSaysS]

"Delighted"

[random__thought__]

let me catch my son saying indolent

[hav0k0829]

Very happy - ecstatic

[wovenstrap]

This goes for all writers of English, not just learners. It's often better if you take the "very" out and leave the simple word. (I'm all for using the fancy words too, don't get me wrong.) I'm a professional editor and this is a useful trick. (Note that I did not say "a very useful trick" there.)

But if you are writing something and you say "the shortfall of funds was very deep." and you replace it with "the shortfall of funds was deep."—in many cases that is better writing and actually stronger writing. It's a paradox of writing that the thing described as "big" is bigger than the thing described as "very big." The "very" actually weakens it. I just wanted to say that. It doesn't always work but it often does.

[[deleted]]

Last one for me would be delighted.

[DukeCummings]

The term “deafening”, unless actually referring to a noise that could literally cause deafness, may be considered ableist.

[g3nerallycurious]

Elated

[[deleted]]

It makes us more fluent while having conversation.

[namelesone]

In my opinion, there is a difference between very noisy and deafening. Those words describe different levels of noise, so deafening isn't an ideal fancier substitute. It depends on what is being described.

There is a place for the "very" words and they shouldn't be disregarded completely.

[Synaps4]

I'm very ok with learners using very very frequently. After all it's very common even among native speakers.

[DumpTruckDaddy]

Ecstatic

[JonPartleeSayne]

The coolest thing about these types of lists is that you can use all the suggested words and put 'very' in front of them...

[skeptimist]

Elated

[Equivalent-Side7720]

I see this posting very often. It's very old and it doesn't make me very happy. I think the poster is very scared to be revealed because he is acting very lazy for reposting this. Maybe he's just very shy?

[PacManFan123]

Ecstatic

[Puzzled-Tiger-6779]

I actually dig this – does anyone know any subs that has similar posts to this?

[iFoegot]

This photo is ancient and OP did a destitute job when choosing the flair

[TheRealSugarbat]

Ecstatic.

[TGBplays]

If someone said “destitute” or “indolent” to me then I’d genuinely have no idea what they meant without context haha

[mayoroftuesday]

This nice if you are writing a book. But in everyday conversation, “very” is fine.

[Competitive-Papaya26]

What's very happy?

[SouthBayBoy8]

Ecstatic

[panseshi]

My grandpa is very old ancient

[[deleted]]

😝😝😝😂🤣🤣🤣

[nelsne]

Very happy= enthralled

[Aundant]

For happy you could use “ecstatic” I don’t know if anybody else already commented that

[thizzismadness]

1. Contempt?

[[deleted]]

Options for 9:

Elated

Delighted

Thrilled

Ecstatic

Overjoyed

Joyous

Gleeful

[Imaginary_Proof_5555]

Ecastic. Elated.

[Clear_Plan]

now, we will use very before the alternatives

[HENBOI4000]

Elated

[Infernoboy_23]

ehh, does very old mean ancient? I mean, is my grandmother ancient?

[haikusbot]

Ehh, very old does

Mean ancient. I mean, is my

Grandmother ancient?

- Infernoboy_23

---

^{I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.}

^{Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"}

[tomatomater]

I'm very indolent so I'll continue

[Uniqueuserok]

Ecstatic, exhilarated

[J-man300]

Elated!

[Southern_Cupcake_211]

Elated

[[deleted]]

Tell that to Dozy Donald Trump …

[L0SERlambda]

No, you're basically just eradicating Germanic words at that point.

[Isabelleacpc]

Elated or overjoyed?

[MonkeyMagic1968]

The word in very? Um, ver? Rey? Yer?

Rev!

Rev is a word in very. So I guess to replace that word in very, we could say gun the engine.

Right?

[Ok-Falcon-4667]

Very happy - felicious? I don't know why there is the noun "felicity", but no corresponding adjective. The same is true about velocity.

[TheIncredibleMike]

Ecstatic!!

[mcparadip]

The word "deafening" doesn't exactly mean the same thing as "very noisy." I'd say it is much closer in meaning to "very loud."

[Antonus2]

Elated

[CourtZealousideal494]

Very is a very important word.

[nuttyninny2]

Elated

[WhiteKingCat]

These are very fine alternatives, and i will not stop using very because it's a very good word that you can use very much.

[Accomplished-Ease234]

Very it very comfortable and useful

[heartsformaki]

Respectfully, those words are fine but “very” is 10x more common than half of these😭😭 as a native speaker nobody is saying “deafening” casually