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The 3 everyday words you should NEVER say

Hello everyone, and welcome back to English With Lucy.

Today, I’ve got an important lesson for you about the three words you should never, ever say or use in English.

This lesson is going to help you improve all apects of your English, but in particular, your vocabulary and your writing. But it will also help with speaking, listening, and storytelling as well. It’s also going to be especially useful if you want to sound more professional. But more about that later.

But first, let’s get on with the lesson. The first word that you should never, ever say or write in English is, dare I even say it?

It’s very. Now, I’ve spoken about this horrible little word before. But I think it’s essential that you understand why you should never use it. Especially when writing, and God forbid, in essays and exams.

Very is a very weak word. See what I did there. It doesn’t communicate enough information, and in my opinion it’s one of the most useless words in the English language. All it does is magnify another word. So how can you avoid using it, and what should you say instead, if anything.

I’m going to give you some options, and I’m going to give you loads of vocabulary that you can use that will make you sound like a total pro, short for professional. First I’m going to ask you a question. Which of these sounds better? The audience were very scared by the very loud noise.

Or the audience were very scared by the deafening noise. I mean, I think the second one sounds better. What have I done? I have replaced very and the adjective, very loud, with one powerful adjective that serves very’s purpose. What about the audience, where they very scared? Can we think of something better? How about, petrified? The audience were petrified by the deafening noise.

So much better, and we’ve used less words, which is much better for essay writing because you have word limits. Here are some examples of words that you can use instead of very plus adjective. Very bad, atrocious. Very poor, destitute. Very risky, perilous. Very tired, exhausted. Very hungry, ravenous. That is one of my favourite words I think. What a fantastic word, ravenous.

And very clean, spotless. I actually think finding these more powerful adjectives is loads of fun, and it makes your writing and your speech so much more descriptive. Plus, you automatically sound like you know so much more English because you’ve got all these words that sometimes even natives don’t know. I think this calls for some homework. Yes, even in free YouTube videos you do get homework. I want you to comment below with at least three alternatives for very plus an adjective.

Let’s see how many we can get under the video and make sure to check out everyone else’s responses, so we have this huge resource for everyone to use. Go, go, go. Comment three. Right. The next one. Oh, what a terrible word. Said. Said. It’s such a boring word, it doesn’t tell me anything.

Now, the word replacements I’m going to tell you are more geared towards writing, but it will help you with your speaking, and definitely your storytelling when you’re recounting a lot of dialogue. So why shouldn’t you say said? Because it’s bloody boring, that’s why. Read this. I’m leaving you forever, she said. No, he said. How dull is that? Let’s try again, but changing up the dialogue words. I’m leaving you forever, she announced. No, he cried. See, so much better, right?

We could take it one step further with adverbs as well, but be careful with these, ‘cause sometimes it can make the writing a little bit busy. Scatter them in every now and again. I’m leaving you forever, she announced powerfully. No, he cried pathetically. See, so jazzy now, isn’t it?

Now I am a very generous teacher, and I have curated a list of amazing dialogue words that you can use in your writing and in your speech, but a quick Google search will leave you with hundreds of alternatives, so make sure you do your revision. I’ve organised mine into sections. Anger, bellowed, snapped, cautioned. Affection, consoled, comforted, soothed. Excitement, babbled, gushed, exclaimed. Fear, stammered, gasped, screamed. Determination, declared, insisted, commanded.

Can you tell I’m really enjoying this lesson? Happiness, sighed, gushed, laughed. Sadness, sobbed, moaned, lamented. Show conflict, sneered, scolded, glowered. To show amusement, teased, chortled, guffawed. And for storytelling, recounted, recalled, resumed. I hope those are really useful for you. As I said before, a quick Google search, and you’ll have pages and pages of alternatives to said. Are you ready for the last word that you should never, ever use? It is, thing.

Yeah, I know. Awful isn’t it? Isn’t it just the most awful word? The most frustrating and annoying word in the world. My boyfriend always shouts to me, Luce, where did you put the thing? And I reply, what thing? And then he says, you know, the thing. It’s infuriating. Words like thing, and stuff, are convenient placeholders. When we can’t remember the name of something or we get distracted, we use them instead. It’s actually really hard to kick this habit in conversation, so I’m not so strict with that. But it is so important that we don’t use them in writing. That’s just lazy.

There is always a better word. For example, I looked at all of the things. I felt sad. You don’t know anything about what’s making me feel sad. How ‘bout if I say it like this? I looked at all of my mother’s childhood teddies and possessions.

I felt sad. There, I tell you loads of information about the situation, and you understand why I feel so sad. Seems obvious, but it’s amazing how many people use thing in their writing. In conclusion, stop saying these three things. I’ve said it before, but it’s very important. (laughs) Ah, I did a funny. I made a joke.

That’s it for today’s video. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you learned something.