Do you use the word “very” a lot?
Maybe… too much?
It’s a very good word.
But if you use it ALL the time…
It’s very hot… I’m very hungry… I’m very tired…
Well, there are some other words you could use instead.
Words that are more colorful, more alive, and that, honestly, make you sound smarter.
And when you sound smarter, people think you’re smarter.
And good things happen to smart people.
Get A Vocab Upgrade
Greetings from Prague, the city where I first became a teacher!
I’m only in town for a few more days.
So I’m trying to see as many friends as I can.
Yesterday, I was having lunch with my Czech friend, Jakub.
And during our conversation, he told me something interesting about his English that I didn’t know before.
Although he speaks well, (he used to live in London and now he works in tourism), he still isn’t satisfied.
I asked him what he’d like to improve.
And he told me he uses the word “very” too much.
In his words: “When you speak as a foreigner there’s insecurity. So if you have fancier words you feel like your level is higher; therefore, you feel better.”
When he said this, the word “upgrade” popped into my head.
You know what “upgrade” means, right?
Imagine your computer is working just fine, but then if you upgrade it, and suddenly it works better!
And that’s what you want to do with your vocabulary.
Get all the simple words you use again and again…
And replace them with smart-sounding native-speaker words.
Then you’ve just given yourself a vocab upgrade!