Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The Only Time I've Loved "Very" In a Sentence

I teach writers to scratch words like very, really, seriously, and totally from their writing. 

You don't need these words. This kind of sentiment should be obvious to the reader because you've showed us or used the precise verb to communicate the feeling of "very much so."

So don't tell me your character was really mad (enraged?), very scared (terrified?) seriously upset (devastated?) or totally mean (hateful?).

I'm thinking about this lesson when I happen upon Psalm 46:1 where the writer says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in our time of need." 

The Hebrew word for "very" means exceedingly and abundantly. "Present" in the Hebrew is a verb meaning to find or detect: The help we need from God we will exceedingly and abundantly find. 

He is very present. Really, seriously, totally so. 

I retract my lesson; sometimes we very much need to see the very muchness of God. 

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