using actually

[alpacinou]

Hello.

Do we say "actually" only when we are trying to correct someone/something?

Is it wrong to use it like that as just a way to start speaking?

-Where do you come from? -Actually, I come from Ireland.

 

[Tarheel]

It's one of the most overused words in the English language. As for your example, there is no reason for it to be there.

(Cross posted.)

 

[Yankee]

It's one of the most overused words in the English language. As for your example, there is no reason for it to be there.

(Cross posted.)

True, but unfortunately it has recently become replaced by "literally" in everyday conversation.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hello.

Do we say "actually" only when we are trying to correct someone/something?

Is it wrong to use it like that as just a way to start speaking?

-Where do you come from? -Actually, I come from Ireland.

Use actually to correct a misconception:

- You: You were born in Scotland, weren't you?
- Me: No, but I grew up there. Actually, I was born in Ireland.

In most other contexts, it's a good word to avoid. The problem with actually, frankly, honestly, and to tell the truth is that you're implying that, until then, you'd been lying.

 

[jutfrank]

A very common use of actually is to give information that may be considered contrary to expectation. That's not quite the same thing as 'correcting' information.

 

[Alexey86]

Funny example of actually:

(0.28-0.30)

She obviously wanted to say 'Actually, that's not true', but just couldn't.

 

[TheParser]

Do we say "actually" only when we are trying to correct someone/something?

NOT A TEACHER

One source says that sometimes the word is used as a "filler" in conversation. That is to say, it gives "the speaker a moment in which to think."

Here are two examples from my source: (1) "Actually, the people who truly are Mrs. Lieberman's dearest friends are a great deal like her." (Americans, the source claims, usually use this filler at the beginning of a sentence.) (2) "... he didn't fall about laughing, he helped me a lot actually." (The end position, the source claims, is usually favored by British speakers.)

Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989), page 24.