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This is very bad advice.



It's very very bad advice.


See, it sounds much more conclusive to say...

This is bad advice.

Adding "very" is subjective. Omitting makes it sound like fact. All of this push-back is... cute.


Communication is inherently subjective, and the subjective content conveyed by "very" above was part of the intended message.


its still bad advice, babes.

adding very doesn't make it subjective. the whole sentence is subjective. the very is a modifier that indicates the person saying thinks its really quite bad. Don't hate on adverbs.


I love it!

Correct, it is subjective. But removing the "very" makes it _sound_ objective. It's more of a declaration than an "I think". And isn't this all about how something comes across, how it sounds, how it affects someone else?

Try it out, my advice is sound!

(...vs, Try it out, my advice is very sound!)

This topic reminds me of how exclamation marks are used, and how inclusion or omission changes the flavor of written sentences that contain the same words.

For example, "Try it out, my advice is sound." tastes different than "Try it out, my advice is sound!". The "very" betrays lack of conviction - the speaker is still trying to convince.




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