Really really really really really really REALLY is one of the most
overused words in the English language of course you can use it I use it myself
but don't use it all the time it's annoying it's a rather lazy way of
speaking and writing so what I want to talk to you about today is alternative
words and expressions to replace really now these are small changes that you can
make today that will raise your English level. So if you want to improve your
English if you want to impress your listeners and readers with your command
of the English language then use a richer more interesting vocabulary today
we will show you how so stay tuned
it was a really strange evening I had last night with Sonia. Sonia, if you don't know
her is my girlfriend and she's really nice
really intelligent and really sweet. It was Sonia's birthday and I decided to
take her to this really trendy restaurant in the West End called Artful
Dodger's its speciality is London Street food
which is really weird because it's really posh and it's not on the street it's on
the 50th floor of this really tall building the place and the decor is
really original and really interesting it's really much better than any other
place I know. I went to The Shed the other day that restaurant that was
really recommended on TripAdvisor and I was really disappointed. Anyway we
were expecting really complicated food by in fact, it was really simple and really
good the main course was avocado on toast. Although I really liked it I
thought it was really overpriced I mean £50 for two servings of grilled
bread some mashed avocado and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds
scattered on top I could do at home and it would be really much cheaper anyway I
complained to the waiter that it was really expensive and he got really angry
with me but he was really, really nice with Sonia and Sonia was really, really
nice with him. I really wanted to to fight him but he was really big and
really muscular in the end he let me keep my 50 pounds but he kept Sonia
the whole thing was really annoying. So your mission is (if you choose to accept
it) is to rewrite the story replacing the word REALLY either with another words or
you could rewrite the REALLY and the adjective with completely different
word or expression and you can find the PDF in the description okay
anyway there is no one correct answer but this is a good exercise in getting
you to think about better ways of expressing yourself in written and
spoken English so for this exercise you can use a dictionary you can use this
a thesaurus (a thesaurus by the way, is a dictionary of synonyms) and I recommend
thesaurus.com but you can find other sources. you can use whatever you want
you can use an app you can ask a friend you can phone your grandmother it
doesn't matter it's all ok. the objective here is just to make the story
sound better. I have my version which I'll show you in a few minutes
I'll wait here while you complete the task so come back when you have
finished.
So here's my version as I said it's not the
definitive version maybe you can do better you probably can so let's have a
look. It was such a strange evening I had last night with Sonia Sonia if you don't
know her is my girlfriend and is so nice so I'm using SUCH before an
adjective and a noun as an intensifier "such a strange evening" and you would use
SO before an adjective on its own and is so nice and if you want ot know more about
the difference between SO and SUCH we do have video about that you can find a
link to that in the description ...and is so nice remarkably intelligent and
terribly sweet it was Sonia's birthday and I decided to
take her to this seriously trendy restaurant in the West End called artful
Dodgers its speciality is London Street food which is dead weird I'm using dead
here as the intensifier which has a similar meaning to VERY and you can put
it before an adjective (a gradable adjectives) I'll give you another example
"it's dead hot today". "The film was dead good", "I'm dead tired"
in this case it was dead weird because it's awfully posh and it's not
on the street. It's on the 50th floor of this extremely tall building the place
and the deco is strikingly original and rather interesting. Now I'm using RATHER
here to mean "to a high degree" RATHER is one of those words which can have a
different meaning, a nuance of meaning depending on how you pronounce it but
I'm using it to mean "to a high degree". It was rather interesting it's miles better
than in the other place I know. Now MILES means to a great amount or a long
way and it's very common to do learn it I'll
give you another example "his new record is miles better than his old one" so
it's miles better than any other place I know. I went to the shed the other day
that restaurant there was highly recommended on TripAdvisor and I was
hugely disappointed anyway we were expecting fairly complicated food.
FAIRLY like RATHER can change its meaning a little bit
depending on how you pronounce it but here I mean "to a high degree" just like
REALLY so it's fairly complicated but in fact it was really simple now there you
are I said that you shouldn't use REALLY too
much but it's to use once or twice so I've used it just once in the story
and here it is. It was really simple and quite exceptional. QUITE is another
word where the meaning changes depending on the adjective it precedes so here
it proceeds exceptional which is a non gradable adjective. a non-gradable
adjective is is an adjective which cannot be preceded by VERY and here
QUITE has the meaning of COMPLETELY so "quite exceptional" means "completely
exceptional". the main course was avocado on toast
which although I did like it. here I'm using the emphatic DO. I'm
putting DID before a verb in the affirmative for stress, for emphasis
and we do have a video about that too the emphatic DO. I'll put a link to it in
the description. I thought it was way overpriced. Now WAY you can use that to
mean a considerable extent or distance and you
can use it before an adverb and it's often used before TOO so
for example "you are driving way too fast". "you're way too old to be a professional
footballer". So I thought it was WAY overpriced I mean £50 for two
servings of grilled bread some mashed avocado and a sprinkling of pomegranate
seeds scattered on top that's completely ridiculous I can do it at home and it
would be significantly cheaper anyway I complained to the waiter that it was
unbelievably expensive and he became furious. I've changed the wording a bit
here rather than "really angry" I've changed the word to FURIOUS which
means "really angry" he became furious of me but he was exceedingly friendly with
Sonia and Sonia was very friendly with him. now VERY is a word like REALLY that
is often overused but again if you use it once or twice that's okay so I'll use
it just once in the story. so Sonia was very friendly with him. I was itching to
fight him. here I've changed the wording a bit I like the word ITCHING so I've
used it. ITCHING means "to have a strong desire to do something" so I was itching
to fight him but he was pretty big. PRETTY just like FAIRLY or RATHER can
have a different meaning depending on how you pronounce it but it has the
meaning here "to a great extent" so. He's pretty big and incredibly muscular in
the end he let me keep my £50 but he kept Sonia. The whole thing was bloody
annoying. I'm using BLOODY here which is a form of mild swearing it's not
offensive but it's very common so do use it and once again we have a
video about mild swearing you can find a link to that in the description. So as I
said this is just my version I'm sure your version is just as good if not
better what I hope this exercise did was to get
you thinking about the way you express yourself in English. By the way the the
PDF of the second version of the story you can find also in the description so
you can download that if you wish. So REALLY is such a useful word sometimes
easy to use all over the place but I think you can see here that if you make an
effort, which is difficult in the beginning but becomes easier as you
practise using different adjectives we looked at and over time it will all
become much easier.