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Writing is hard, and writing without repeating yourself is very, very hard — and as you may have already noticed, one of the most repeated words in English is the intensifying modifier “very.” That’s why the website ProofreadingServices.com created this chart of 128 words you can use instead of placing “very” in front of a more common word. For example, describing someone as “destitute” or “penniless” is more descriptive than “very poor.”
Now, look: “very” is a great word. It’s superb. Excellent. Outstanding. It’s versatile, robust, clear, useful, direct, and powerful. It’s very good.
That said, it gets used very, very, very frequently, and that can become very repetitive and very boring very quickly. Not all of these words are perfect (many pedants have already pointed out that “exact” is not really an exact replacement for “very accurate”).
Not all of them will fit your needs, but if you write a lot and want to avoid sounding dull and generic, this list will be very useful to you. Indispensable, even.
Got that? Don’t say “very accurate.” Say “exact.”
Makes sense right?
Now, let’s look at some more…
What do you think about instead of saying “very loud” you say “thunderous?”
Does that seem a bit too noisy?
What about saying “swift” instead of “very fast?”
I can dig it.
Photo Credit: Proofreadingservices.com
Some of those last ones I have a bit of an issue with.
Does somebody want to be called “skeletal” instead of “very skinny?” Ummm, no. The latter could certainly be seen as a compliment. I know of no person on earth who would want to be called “skeletal.” Jeezus.
But point taken! The word “very” is quite overused and could use some replacing.
Very much so.
