Is it true that natives don't use adjectives with "very" any more?

[Caprilla]

Hello, everyone!

Some student of mine has told me recently that natives don't use adjectives with "very" but only their synonyms, for example "very big" - "massive", "very angry" - "furious" etc. I know that on higher levels "very' is optional and it's better to use more complex words but her point was that modern English tries to avoid "very" at all. Is she right? I found "very big" in British Corpus though it was less frequent than "massive".

 

[probus]

You shouldn't use use native as a synonym for native speaker. It's unnatural. As to your substantive question, your student is completely wrong. Very is still very very very commonly used.

 

[emsr2d2]

Some A student of mine has told me recently that natives English speakers don't use adjectives with "very" but only their synonyms, for example "very big" - "massive", "very angry" - "furious" etc. I know that on at higher levels of English "very' is optional and it's better to use more complex words but her point was that modern English tries to avoid using "very" at all. Is she right? I found "very big" in the British Corpus, although it was less frequent than "massive".

Note my changes above. Your student is wrong. Next time you see her, ask her where she got that idea.

 

[Caprilla]

Note my changes above. Your student is wrong. Next time you see her, ask her where she got that idea.

No doubt I'll ask her as I have no clue where she might have heard this.

 

[Tarheel]

No doubt I'll ask her as I have no clue where she might have heard this.

Or: "I'll do that!"