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Speaker 1: I think this is really going to be a helpful

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lesson for you today. Very and really are two very

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basic words in English, but I do know that they

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can be really confusing for a lot of English learners.

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Let's discuss.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you, John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight oh three.

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Is it really or very? For a lot of English learners,

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Really and very can be confusing to use. So if

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you sometimes use one of them in the wrong situation,

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you're going to want to listen to this podcast English

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lesson till the end. Both very and really are used

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to make adjectives and adverbs stronger, but they are used

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a bit differently from a grammatical point of view. We

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use very before an adjective or an adverb. In this usage,

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very has a kind of formal sound like the book

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I am reading is very interesting, or a lot of

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the skyscrapers in New York City are very tall, and

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the people in this city walk very quickly. This use

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of very sounds stiff or formal, like something you may

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read in a grammar book. You know, grammar books are

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very interesting. On the other hand, really is more informal

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and conversational sounding, so we tend to use really in

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everyday conversation. Really is more dramatic than very. The book

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I'm reading is really interesting, or a lot of the

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skyscrapers in New York City are really tall, and the

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people in this city walk really quickly, so really is

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more expressive sounding than very, which is more dry sounding.

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In summary, both very and really boost the strength of

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an adjective or adverb. For instance, it is very hot

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and it is really hot mean almost the same thing.

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But if you are writing formally, very might be the

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better choice. Choose very for more formal contexts and really

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for informal everyday conversation. By the way, we can use

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very and not really as an adjective before a noun.

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When we do, very gives emphasis to show that the

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noun is the actual or exact noun we are talking about.

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Like I remember when I saw a classic car in

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an old movie. It was a nineteen fifty eight Chevy

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bell Air, And recently I saw someone driving that car

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in my neighborhood, and I sent to my friend Paul,

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that is the very car that I saw in the movie,

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the very car that I saw in the movie. This

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means that the car is exactly the car that I

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saw in the movie. Let me give you another example.

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When I was a university student, I had a ballpoint

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pen which was made of wood. It was my grandfather's pen. Well,

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unfortunately that pen was lost a long time ago, but

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recently I was looking for a wooden pen and I

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found one in the stationary shop. That was the very

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pen I was looking for. In other words, that was

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the exact pen that I was looking for. Oh yeah,

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and you can use the phrase the very same before

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and noun the very same means exactly the like that

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is the very same car I saw in the movie.

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In other words, that is exactly the car I saw

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in the movie. Yep, that was the very same pen

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I was looking for. And finally, you may be wondering, like,

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I can say I really like pizza, but I can't

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say I very like pizza. Why is that? Well, the

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reason is that really and very work differently in sentences.

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Really can be used to strengthen a verb directly. So

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in I really like pizza. The word really intensifies the

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verb like, meaning you like pizza a lot. On the

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other hand, very is just used to modify adjectives and adverbs,

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but not verbs. That's why I very like pizza doesn't

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sound very natural. To use very with like, you would

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need to change the sentence. For example, you could say

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I like pizza very much. Here very is modifying much,

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which is an adverb, which in turn intensifies like. To

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sum up, we use really to modify verbs directly, and

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really or very to modify adjectives or adverbs. Keep in mind,

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the best way to remember English like this and any

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other word or phrase in English, is to take that

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word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true

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for you or true in your world, and then memorize

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your sentences and did you know? You can get more

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practice using your English when you join my podcast Learner's

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Study Group. There you can make new friends, join us

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for live group lessons every week where we practice these

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podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to the pdf,

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transcript and audio download for every Happy English podcast in

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the past and in the future. And on top of that,

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each episode has exercises where you can practice this English

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point with speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more,

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just visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson

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eighth three. Remember learning another language is not easy, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com. Show your support for Happy

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