| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
raewon
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:14 pm Post subject: Grammar question: really vs. very |
 |
|
I have a grammar question about the following sentence (when talking about food).
It's very delicious.
Is that grammatically correct? A native English speaker has said
that it must be "It's really delicious." to be grammatically correct and
that "It's very delicious." is an awkward expression. Is it correct or incorrect... and why?
Thanks a lot. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
WI-Do
Joined: 01 Feb 2012
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: Grammar question: really vs. very |
|
|
| raewon wrote: |
I have a grammar question about the following sentence (when talking about food).
It's very delicious.
Is that grammatically correct? A native English speaker has said
that it must be "It's really delicious." to be grammatically correct and
that "It's very delicious." is an awkward expression. Is it correct or incorrect... and why?
Thanks a lot. |
"Very" and "really" are both okay. They are both intensifiers modifying an adjective and can be interchanged with each other. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
raewon
Joined: 16 Jun 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi,
Thanks for your quick reply. Well, that's what I thought - but one native speaker seems insistent that in this case "really" must be used. It was a question I was asked, so I'm not sure of the reasoning. Does
everyone else agree that they are both 100% correct in this context?
Maybe it's a regional issue... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: Grammar question: really vs. very |
|
|
| raewon wrote: |
I have a grammar question about the following sentence (when talking about food).
It's very delicious.
Is that grammatically correct? A native English speaker has said
that it must be "It's really delicious." to be grammatically correct and
that "It's very delicious." is an awkward expression. Is it correct or incorrect... and why?
Thanks a lot. |
A quick Google search using "very delicious" and "really delicious" as search terms reveals that both are equally acceptable. Your informant is incorrect. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dog Soldier
Joined: 29 Sep 2010
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Whilst I agree that both are correct, really delicious feels more natural. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Chaucer
Joined: 20 Oct 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:59 pm Post subject: Formal vs. colloquial |
|
|
| You would never write "It's really delicious" outside of quotation marks in a somewhat formal piece of writing. "really" is more natural in speech, "very" in writing. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
FMPJ
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
In standard usage, "really" and "very" are equally fine there.
If you're going to quibble, though, your friend is wrong: the "prescriptive" take is that "really" means "actually," so it should occur to reveal a contrast with a misconception, as in "they said this cup of hot fat was bland, but it's really delicious." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I agree it does sound awkward.
"really" has a perceptual human element to it.
"very" has a more empirical element to it.
That car is very fast (we can't deny it).
Your shirt is really nice (I think it looks good on you).
Your shirt is very nice (it opened the door for me  ).
He/She is a very nice person.
Is "He/She is a really nice person" wrong? No, but I would tend to read that as being more than just a "very" nice person.
As pointed out, "really" has a sense of "actually". So, you might say "very" which is expected, but if you chose "really" it means you are putting the person or your impression of something more on a "pedestal".
(EDIT: I like this person's answer, "Solve your issue by using "wicked" wherever you'd used really or very." - http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=607218
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| There is a lot of debate on this. Definitely some UK English text books make a point of separating gradable and non gradable adjectives and saying you can't use 'very' with ungradables. Hence 'very excellent, very stunning, very terrible, very brilliant' are all wrong. I must admit they sound wrong to me and perhaps 'very delicious' would sound wrong to me too if I hadn't lived in Korea for so long and heard it constantly. A lot of native speakers say 'very delicious' is fine but would they say for example it's 'very freezing today'? That sounds unnatural. I tell my students to use ' really ' all the time to avoid potential mistakes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
|
| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| 'very freezing today' |
That's not "really" the same thing 
I think "really freezing" would also be unnatural in the same context.
This is the same as being "really" pregnant. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 'really freezing' sounds ok to me in the context of how you feel or how the weather is. 'Very and really' pregnant could also be possible in the context of a woman after 8 and a half months of labour. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| 'really freezing' sounds ok to me in the context of how you feel or how the weather is. |
I meant in the same context I wouldn't use it. I tend to start off, "It's really cold out there, it's freezing."
Maybe this is just what I grew up with because in Detroit the weather can change drastically. It doesn't stay consistent (due to the lakes?). So, if you say it's really freezing, it sounds like you are up in Alaska comparing "freeziness"  or defrosting a fridge (but then again I wouldn't say that about a fridge).
My guess is that this is a slip of the tongue and we have gotten used to it over the years.
On the flipside, I would see "really hot" as being more acceptable because we don't have a word like freezing. We could say sweltering, but how often do you "really" hear that? I would hear blistering more, and very blistering (YIKES!!  ) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Cosmic Hum
Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:13 am Post subject: Re: Grammar question: really vs. very |
|
|
| raewon wrote: |
I have a grammar question about the following sentence (when talking about food).
It's very delicious.
Is that grammatically correct? A native English speaker has said
that it must be "It's really delicious." to be grammatically correct and
that "It's very delicious." is an awkward expression. Is it correct or incorrect... and why?
Thanks a lot. |
Hello again Reawon,
The person you are talking to is indeed correct�prescriptively anyway.
I get the feeling that this is mainly a British English concern. In fact, I seldom, if ever, hear non-British speakers even mention gradable and non-gradable adjectives or adverbs. But under those classifications ��delicious� falls under the non-gradable adjectives�meaning very tasty, so it doesn�t take �very�. �Very� is a gradable adverb.
In general...gradable adverbs go with gradable adjectives. Non-gradable adverbs go with non-gradable adjectives. Some would go so far as to say it is wrong to use �very� with non-gradable adjectives...as Ed has mentioned, there is a fair bit of debate over the issue.
The other side of this is that some people don�t think that �delicious� is exclusively non-gradable and therefore could take �very��again�debatable.
If this were a test question�it would be testing a very debatable topic.
There is a lot of information on this very subject�even with this word �delicious�.
In fact�here is an old thread on this very topic.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?p=65191 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| edwardcatflap wrote: |
| 'really freezing' sounds ok to me in the context of how you feel or how the weather is. 'Very and really' pregnant could also be possible in the context of a woman after 8 and a half months of labour. |
After 8 1/2 months of labor the woman would be very and really dead. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
WI-Do
Joined: 01 Feb 2012
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:10 pm Post subject: Re: Grammar question: really vs. very |
|
|
| The Cosmic Hum wrote: |
The other side of this is that some people don�t think that �delicious� is exclusively non-gradable and therefore could take �very��again�debatable.
|
I would argue that delisciousness is a gradable item because I know that I have used it in comparative and superlative constructions: "What is the most deliscious food you've eaten?" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
