I’ve talked before about trying to avoid using very and really in your writing. There is no good reason to use them as modifiers when you can just use a more descriptive word.
Here are 10 examples of common very phrases and some alternatives you can use in their place:
| very tall | towering |
| very hungry | famished |
| very tired | exhausted |
| very sad | despondent |
| very happy | elated |
| very old | ancient |
| very painful | excruciating |
| very pretty | beautiful |
| very scared | petrified |
| very rainy | pouring |
Do you have some other very examples? Let me know in the comments.