hey guys what's up Stefanie the English coach here from englishfulltime.com let's talk about
the word very I have been meaning to make this video for a very long time because as you guys
all know there are so many videos out there and so much content saying don't say very don't
say very it's gonna make you sound boring it's gonna make you sound basic and I've like I said
I've been wanting to talk about this for a long time we're really going to get into it okay but
I got a message this morning on Instagram from someone and I thought all right it's that's it
it's time to talk about the word very and the message basically said Stef I've been wanting
to ask you this people native speakers use the word very don't they I saw in some videos they
say don't say very and use these words instead what's wrong with very LOL all right so I know
this person is not the only one wondering this and I am here my dear friends and my beloved
subscribers to set the record straight because wow where do I even start I'm just going to be honest
I can't believe people are making this content I cannot believe it so let's get into it do native
speakers use the word very let's take a look taking in tens of thousands of calories while
expending very few all right but very important but I love Christmas carols no they know how to
have very heated but constructive arguments power that we're seeing at the very very top
of the income distribution a score that no athlete has come very close to since a very expensive pile
of junk that does not go anywhere so thank you very much you know I've had like very specific
ideas of things that I wanted to communicate realize that so many of our residents can eat
very little if anything at all by a very angry sanitation worker with a very large shovel very
fascinating objects from a theorist perspective and or signs that we aren't coping very well with
the pressure okay so as you can see yes English speakers native speakers non-native speakers
people who speak English use this word very and we use it a lot so there's nothing wrong with the
word I think it's just a matter of learning how to use it well and also adding other words to your
vocabulary so that you can express exactly what you want to say in a clear concise way but while
you maybe don't have all the words that you need and want in your vocabulary you can absolutely
use this word very because it is so easy and it can help you communicate so many ideas you don't
need to be afraid of the word you don't need to feel like oh my English is going to be so basic
and embarrassing and so I should just not speak because I don't have enough vocabulary just use
it I use this word all the time but beyond that what we're really going to get into in this video
is how native speakers actually use the word very and other types of words you can use if
you don't always want to say very that are very easy to remember there I said very again we should
count somebody should count the amount of times I say very in this video when I'm just speaking
spontaneously when I'm not using it to talk about it if that makes sense anyways okay so let's just
I've got a lot to cover let's just get into it the first thing I want to do is I want to give
you some more examples of how we say very how I would say very and sometimes you will find like
chunks of the language that always have very in the chunk or perhaps an expression or something
like that but let's just go through the list so it's very important that you right that phrase
it's very important that you listen at the meeting it's very important that we eat lunch before we go
out it's very important that whatever okay she's not feeling very well she's not feeling very well
she's kind of sick she's not feeling very well she did very well on the test she did very well on
the test or she didn't do very well on the test I don't want to do that that's not a very good idea
I don't agree that's not a very good idea that's the very thing I told her not to do that's the
she did it but that's the very thing I told her not to do that's the exact thing I told her not
to do and then we were climbing the mountain and when we got to the very top when we got to the
very top the highest point thank you very much thank you thank you very much I couldn't believe
this on the very first day of school I forgot my backpack on the very first the very first I
wanna very clear about this I want to be very clear about this when I said Okay I want to be
very clear about this thing that I'm about to say at the very least we should give it a try
at the very least it's the least we can do at the very least we can give it a try it was a very hard
time in my life it was a very hard time in my life okay so as you can see from the examples I
showed you earlier and these examples we use very all the time by the way I forgot to say this the
clips that I got they were from uglish.com this is an amazing resource I highly recommend you use it
you can check if native speakers actually use the words everybody is saying not to say you can check
pronunciation you can listen to multiple different clips you can listen to them in different accents
you can choose specific accents to focus on it is an incredible resource that pulls real
English from different videos different sources so that you can hear it and study it okay so now you
know native speakers do use very we use it all the time but let's say you want to use other words too
that's okay a couple other words that you can say instead of vary that have the same meaning and are
basically you know word for word replacements would be the word so the word really and super
these are words that I use okay so he's so kind it's so hot out here or why is this party so far
okay so it's like very very formal very hot etcetera or really that's really confusing oh this
pillow is really soft or that's super weird that's super cool it's super irritating when he does that
okay so now you can see besides very we also use words like really so and super now what are these
words these words are intensifiers and basically their job is to emphasize what we are saying and
give it added strength because if you just say it's hot today that's not the same as saying it is
so hot today or why is it so hot today it's really hot right we're using these words to intensify our
message let me give you a list of some of the most common intensifiers in English we have very
so really super incredibly absolutely extremely highly totally utterly okay so you can use these
words to emphasize your message and you can pair them with really basic words words like fun silly
rude etc and you can add an intensifier in front of it and suddenly it makes it more interesting
so instead of saying that's fun you could say that's incredibly fun or it's incredibly fun
instead of saying that's silly you could say that's absolutely silly or it was absolutely
silly instead of saying she was rude you could say she was extremely rude she was extremely rude okay
next foolish instead of just saying that was a foolish thing to do you could say that was totally
foolish I can't believe he did that or instead of saying I'm exhausted you could say I'm utterly
exhausted I am so exhausted okay utterly exhausted so these intensifiers are great because they help
you be more expressive you can use all of those simple words in English fun cool rude whatever one
syllable words and then add an intensifier and it helps make them stronger so you don't have to use
words that native speakers and English speakers don't use because what we we see with these don't
say very videos and content is they tell you not to say very which everybody says and then they
say instead say this and it'll be some ridiculous word that literally nobody says okay so now you
know you can use intensifiers we have different kinds next when people claim don't use very it's
kind of boring it's gonna make you sound boring I think that is such a low blow because there
are so many things that will make a person sound boring and using one word even using it a lot is
not one of them I am case and point right here because I have the most repetitive vocabulary in
the world my vocabulary is not that extensive I know people that have way more vocabulary than I
do and yeah I just rely on intensifiers because they actually help make my speaking interesting
but it's not just these intensifiers okay here are the things that will make your speaking and
you interesting when you're speaking in English your facial expressions your message like what are
you actually saying because because maybe you're not very expressive I'm very expressive I'm sure
you've been able to tell that by now but maybe you're not that's okay because if what you're
saying is interesting to whoever you're saying it to whoever your audience is whoever is listening
that's all you need it doesn't matter if you say very over and over again if you're telling people
how to make a million dollars working one hour a day and that's it you can say very as much as you
want people won't care because they will find your content and your topic so interesting that they
don't care which words you use to get your point across okay so some other things that make you
sound interesting not just the individual words you use or perhaps overuse the stories you tell
the anecdotes you share your body language your tone your intonation your rhythm that's huge right
your voice alone can capture someone's attention your personality all of these things oh and your
energy like the actual physical energy that you feel that you have inside of you when you're
you're feeling great it comes out and people are you make people around you feel great so if you're
worried about sounding boring don't focus on this word very and other words like very basic words
like good night goodbye thank you happy sad don't focus on these focus on all these other things
that I said and see how you can improve these things so that you are expressive right so if
you if you feel like you sound boring I would say before you work on replacing the word very work
on your intonation work on your rhythm work on your facial expressions work on really letting
your personality shine through when you speak okay so that's it it was a long video but I really just
wanted to get everything out and also give you some good examples of how English speakers do
use very so again if this video was helpful please go ahead and give it a thumbs up subscribe to the
channel if you are not already and don't forget we are starting the fluency breakthrough challenge
very very soon alright that's it oh and it will be very very fun that's it and I'll see you soon bye