Learn English – the difference between “really” and “very”

adverbsdifferences

Is the statement below true about the difference between really and very when really means “very” in the example “It’s very/really hot in the summer”?

“Really” shows more involvement, even feeling, on the part of the speaker, thus is more personal sometimes. “Very” is more neutral. —englishforums.com

Thanks.

Best Answer

I don't agree with that distinction. If you look up really and very, they both can be used as intensifiers. (In your example sentence, they intensify the word "hot.") I don't believe one is more "personal" than the other.

I do agree, however, with Theodore Bernstein's entry on the word very in his book The Careful Writer:

...An aside on the word very... Inexperienced writers tend to use the word too much. Often its use is self-defeating; the writer intends to intensify what he is saying, but instead weakens it. He may write, "Hemingway's prose is very lean and very strong," not realizing that he would express his thought more forcefully if he wrote, "Hemingway's prose is lean and strong." If the word very seems to be necessary to strengthen what has been written, the writer should re-examine his original selection of words. Strong words usually need no such prop."

I believe the same is true for the word really.

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