YES, YOU CAN SAY "VERY"

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