She seemed much younger than she was really

[Ellieisrare]

Hello teacher~
I am wondering about the usage of 'really' in a sentence.
Can I say like, "She seemed much younger than she was really." If not, I would like to know why it is grammatically incorrect and whether English speakers could understand it at least a little.
I would appreciate it if you could help me.

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes, you can say that.

 

[Tarheel]

If Rover says it's okay it's okay. However, I would say: "She seemed much younger than she really was."

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't find that position of "really" natural. I agree with Tarheel that "than she really was" is the far more common way of phrasing it. Bear in mind, too, that "really" is unnecessary.
She seemed much younger than she was.

 

[Rover_KE]

Also: 'She seemed much younger than she actually was'.

 

[Lycidas]

With "really" in end position, my ear desires a comma after "was." Set off by a comma, "really" applies to the whole assertion, just as it would in other positions.

She seemed much younger than she was, really.
She seemed much younger, really, than she was.
She seemed, really, much younger than she was.
Really, she seemed much younger than she was.

 

[Tarheel]

@Lycidas If I was going to put it in the end position I would make it more of an exclamation, thus: "She seemed much younger than she was. Really!"

 

[5jj]

She seemed much younger than she was, really.
She seemed much younger, really, than she was.
She seemed, really, much younger than she was.
Really, she seemed much younger than she was.

I find none of those commas natural.

 

[jutfrank]

Lycidas made it quite clear that putting really in a different position would change the focus.

What Ellieisrare means is this:

She seemed much younger than she really was.

As Rover suggests, really can be substituted for 'actually', with no change in meaning.

 

[Ellieisrare]

Thanks for all those helpful opinions. As a foreign language learner, it's not always easy to know if I am using proper English. This site is amazing that I can get more than I expected! I really, really thank you, teachers~~! *^^*

 

[Lycidas]

I find none of those commas natural.

With the commas and the slight pause they induce, "really" (in those positions) has the same force as a parenthetical "in truth":

She seemed much younger than she was, in truth.
She seemed much younger, in truth, than she was.
She seemed, in truth, much younger than she was.
In truth, she seemed much younger than she was.

If you try to hear it as having the same force as it does in "She seemed much younger than she really was," of course it will sound unnatural.

One could probably go so far as to call the following ungrammatical with the commas: She seemed much younger than she, really, was.

 

[5jj]

She seemed much younger than she was, in truth.
She seemed much younger, in truth, than she was.
She seemed, in truth, much younger than she was.
In truth, she seemed much younger than she was.

I find these even less natural.

 

[Lycidas]

I find these even less natural.

Perhaps it would help you to imagine a context in which they could suitably be uttered—unless you wish to presuppose a priori that no such context exists.

 

[5jj]

I have tried, but I really can't think of any contexts in which I would use a parenthetical in truth. If you tell me that your conversation is peppered with parerenthetical in truths. then we'll just need to accept that we are different.

 

[Lycidas]

I have tried, but I really can't think of any contexts in which I would use a parenthetical in truth. If you tell me that your conversation is peppered with parerenthetical in truths. then we'll just need to accept that we are different.

In truth is only one example of the type of phrase I have in mind. We could equally well substitute the comma-isolated really with to tell you the truth:

She seemed much younger than she was, to tell you the truth.
She seemed much younger, to tell you the truth, than she was.
She seemed, to tell you the truth, much younger than she was.
To tell you the truth, she seemed much younger than she was.

On COCA, parenthetical in truth has 459 results, and parenthetical to tell you the truth 588 results. Perhaps to tell you the truth can be naturally used in your dialect.

 

[5jj]

She seemed much younger, to tell you the truth, than she was.
She seemed, to tell you the truth, much younger than she was.

Those sound extremely unnatural to me.

 

[Lycidas]

Those sound extremely unnatural to me.

You have only quoted two of the examples. I presume you mean to acknowledge indirectly that you find the other two natural, or at least not extremely unnatural.

Grammatically, there is a difference between the really in "She seemed much younger than she really was" and the parenthetical really (and its variants).

Really is what Quirk et al. call an "emphasizer" (a type of narrow-viewpoint subjunct) in "She seemed much younger than she really was" (see section 8.99).

The comma-isolated really in "She seemed much younger than she was, really/in truth/to tell you the truth/to be frank" is different.

It is what Quirk et al. call a "style disjunct." Style disjuncts comment parenthetically on "the speakers' views on the way they are speaking" (see section 15.53).

"Comment clauses are parenthetical disjuncts. They may occur initially, finally, or medially, and thus generally have a separate tone unit" (p. 1112, emphasis mine).

That they "generally have a separate tone unit" and are considered parenthetical explains why they are generally set off by one or more commas in written English.

 

[5jj]

I'd be interested to know, Lycidas, whether you find the two sentences below completely natural, the sort of thing you might well say to a friend over an evening cocoa.

She seemed much younger, to tell you the truth, than she was.
She seemed, to tell you the truth, much younger than she was.

 

[Tarheel]

When a person uses the phrase "to tell the truth" does that mean he was lying before?

 

[Lycidas]

I'd be interested to know, Lycidas, whether you find the two sentences below completely natural, the sort of thing you might well say to a friend over an evening cocoa.

Sure, I might say either of those sentences to a friend over an evening cocoa—and I do love cocoa (I have it just about every evening!).

Parentheticals like these (this variety of Quirkian disjunct, if you will) are very amenable to being located in many different places in a sentence.

Thus, suppose I had begun my sentence and then realized that "to tell you the truth" would add a nice touch, but didn't wish to end with it. I might stick it in midway.

When a person uses the phrase "to tell the truth" does that mean he was lying before?

No, it has an idiomatic meaning. Click here for Merriam-Webster's definition.