Stop Overusing “Very”: Try These Better Alternatives

I live in a very small apartment on a very busy street. My dog has nowhere to run and play, so I take him to a very nice dog park a few blocks away. My dog always has a very good time, and I’ve met a lot of very interesting people there. One of the dogs I see most often is a very big Great Dane. At first, I thought this dog was very scary and I was very afraid it would play too roughly with my dog. But this Great Dane is actually a very friendly dog.

Leo felt pleased when he finished writing a one-paragraph essay about his everyday life for his ESL class. Indeed, when the teacher gave him feedback on the essay, she said that Leo’s writing had improved a lot since he’d started the class a few months earlier.

There was just one small issue.

“You used the word ‘very’ nine times,” the teacher pointed out. “There isn’t anything wrong with ‘very’. The way you used it is grammatically correct. But I’d like you to work on finding different words. It will help you get a better score when you take the IELTS writing test.”

Like Leo, many English learners (and even native speakers) use the intensifier “very” to make adjectives sound stronger. In Leo’s case, he used “very” in all of the following ways within the same paragraph:

• Very small
• Very busy
• Very nice
• Very good
• Very interesting
• Very big
• Very scary
• Very afraid
• Very friendly

What’s the problem with “very”?

As Leo’s teacher noted, there is nothing grammatically wrong with “very.” It’s a safe choice. It works well in certain contexts, such as advertisements. But if you use it too often, your writing can sound vague, repetitive, or less natural. After all, English is a rich language with thousands of expressive adjectives.

Let’s look at one of the sentences from Leo’s essay:

• One of the dogs I see most often is a very big Great Dane.

Although “very big” is okay, let’s see what happens when we try some alternatives:

• One of the dogs I see most often is an enormous Great Dane.
• One of the dogs I see most often is a huge Great Dane.
• One of the dogs I see most often is a gigantic Great Dane.

Now the sentence sounds stronger and more exciting.

 

Alternatives to “very”

Below you’ll find a table with 30 common adjectives that are often paired with “very”. Beside each one, you will see some other words you can use in place of “very” + an adjective.

Very + adjective	Try this instead
Very easy	Effortless, Simple
Very pretty	Beautiful, Gorgeous, Stunning
Very dirty	Filthy, Messy, Unclean
Very cute	Adorable, Darling
Very big	Huge, Enormous, Gigantic, Massive
Very busy	Swamped, Overstretched, Occupied
Very bad	Awful, Terrible
Very angry	Enraged, Furious
Very smart	Brilliant, Insightful, Clever
Very worried	Anxious, Concerned
Very boring	Dull, Tedious
Very hot	Scorching, Sweltering
Very cold	Freezing, Frigid
Very tired	Exhausted, Drained
Very small	Little, Tiny, Petite, Pocket-sized
Very important	Essential, Crucial, Critical, Urgent
Very happy	Delighted, Thrilled
Very sad	Devastated, Sorrowful
Very difficult	Challenging, Hard, Tough
Very fast	Rapid, Swift
Very slow	Sluggish
Very loud	Earsplitting
Very quiet	Hushed
Very strong	Powerful
Very weak	Fragile, Limp
Very good	Great, Excellent, Superb
Very clear	Obvious, Evident
Very careful	Meticulous
Very nice	Pleasant, Lovely
Very scary	Frightening, Terrifying

Not all of these alternative words will work for every context. At some point you’ll probably need to find an alternative for a “very” + adjective that isn’t on this list. It’s always a good idea to have a thesaurus (either an actual book or an online version) at your fingertips.

In some cases, it might be best to just use the original adjective without “very”. Depending on the context, a word like “scary” or “difficult” or “busy” might be perfectly fine by itself.

This brings us back to Leo’s essay. Here is a new version of it, without any “verys”.

I live in a tiny apartment on a busy street. My dog has nowhere to run and play, so I take him to a lovely dog park a few blocks away. My dog always has a great time, and I’ve met a lot of interesting people there. One of the dogs I see most often is an enormous Great Dane. At first, I thought this dog was terrifying and I was afraid it would play too roughly with my dog. But this Great Dane is actually a sweet dog.

---

If you’re not sure if a substitute for “very” is appropriate, you can always ask one of our TextRanch editors for help. Our editors are all native English speakers–not robots. Since we are located in different time zones around the world, we are always open for business. Click the blue box below to visit our home page and choose from a variety of editing options.