Use of the word absolutely in a will

—   Hello, boys and girls! My name is Martin.

—   And my name is Nathaniel.

—   James is not with us today, because he
doesn’t feel well.

—   Welcome to our grammar lesson!

—   Yesterday I went to the barbershop. Before
I continue my story, I would like to remind you the meaning of this word.

A barbershop is a
place where men and boys get their hair cut.

—   Let’s continue. When I got there, I saw a
boy and a barber. The barber was cutting the boy’s hair. When he finished, they
started talking.

Listen to their
conversation and you’ll find out the topic of our lesson.

—   Oh, Mr. Donovan! You are a very wonderful
master.

—   Thank you, Larry. It’s a great pleasure
for me to hear that.

—   Now my hair looks very great! Thank you so
much!

—   You’re welcome!

—   See you soon, Mr. Donovan.

—   See you, Larry.

When I heard the
boy saying: “very wonderful” and “very great”, I decided to come to the boy and
talk to him.

—   Hello, Larry.

—   Hello, sir! I’m sorry… Do I know you?

—   No, you don’t. My name is Nathaniel. My
friends and I make lessons for different pupils.

—   Really? I haven’t heard about you. But…
why did you come to me?

—   Well… I’ve just heard your conversation
with the barber. And you made two mistakes in your speech.

—   No way!

—   Unfortunately, it’s true. We cannot say
“very wonderful” and “very great”.

—   Why? I always say that.

—   Well… we can’t use the word “very” with
the adjectives “wonderful” and “great”! Do you want me to explain the rule to
you?

—   Of course, if it’s no bother.

—   No, not at all!

As you can
understand, today in the lesson we will:

·       
talk about the adverbs
“very”, “really”, “truly”, “absolutely”;

·       
learn how to use
them;

And

·       
put the knowledge
into practice.

—   First of all, I’ll tell you what the words
“very”, “really”, “truly” and “absolutely” have in common.

—   In my opinion, they are all the same.

—   You’re wrong, Larry! Well… they have a lot
in common, but they are not exactly the same!

The words “very”,
“really”, “truly” and “absolutely” are placed directly in
front of adjectives or adverbs. They make the meaning of the adverb or adjective
stronger, or more intense. For this reason, these words are called
intensifiers.

For example:

Madison did very
well on the test.

(The girl didn’t
simply do well, she did extremely well).

The water in the
Atlantic Ocean is really cold.

(The water isn’t
just cold, it’s extremely cold).

—   Now, Larry, I’ll tell you about the
difference between the words “very”, “really”, “truly” and “absolutely”.

—   Great, because I can’t wait to hear that!

—   Before we talk about the difference, we
need to mention the fact that adjectives in English can be divided into two
groups: base and strong.

Base adjectives are normal adjectives that don’t have the
idea of “very”.

Strong adjectives, however, are extreme adjectives that
have the idea of “very”.

Let’s look at some
examples of base and strong adjectives.

Beautiful, good,
angry, big, cold, hungry – these adjectives are base.

If we add
intensifier “very” to all of them, we’ll get: “very beautiful”, “very
good”, “very angry”, “very big”, “very cold” and “very hungry”.

The synonyms of
these words are the strong adjectives: gorgeous, great, furious, huge,
freezing, starving.

From these
examples it’s clear that we can add intensifier “very” to base adjectives, but…

Remember! We
cannot add “very” to strong adjectives.

It’s not correct
to say that something or someone is “very gorgeous”, “very great”, “very
furious”, “very huge”, “very freezing”, “very starving”.

With strong
adjectives, we normally use intensifiers: “really”, “truly” and “absolutely”.

The words “really”
and “truly” are translated as “действительно, по-настоящему, поистине”.

And the word
“absolutely” can be translated as “абсолютно, совершенно, чрезвычайно, категорически, безусловно”.

For instance:

The cartoon was
absolutely awful.

My aunt Grace was
really furious.

Kevin, it’s truly
great to see you!

Now look at the
table, please.

We’ve already said
that we can use the words “really”, “truly” and “absolutely”
with strong adjectives. You also need to know that we can use the words
“really” and “truly” with base adjectives but remember we don’t use the word
“absolutely” with them.

Pay attention! The
word “very” can also be an adjective. In this case, we can translate
this word as: “те”, “тот самый”, “этот самый”. We also need to put the word “very” in
front of nouns.

Look at the
following examples:

Nick is probably
lying on some beach in Italy at this very moment.

(Ник, возможно, лежит на каком-нибудь пляже в Италии в этот самый
момент).

Or

These are the very
flowers my mother planted.

(Это те самые цветы, которые посадила моя мама).

—   Well, Larry, did you understand
everything?

—   Yes, sir! I understood everything. And I’m
shocked and surprised!

—   Really? Why?

—   Oh, I just didn’t hear anything about this
rule. Thank you so much! Now, thanks to you, I know when I can use the word
“very”.

—   You’re welcome, Larry. But if you don’t
mind, I would like to check your knowledge now.

—   Oh, okay!

—   First of all, I would like to know if you
understand the difference between base and strong adjectives.

Put the adjectives
into the correct groups.

Check yourselves.

Base adjectives
are:

Ugly, happy,
tired, funny, small, hot, tasty, old, interesting, clever, loud, scary.

Strong adjectives
are:

Ancient, boiling,
delighted, exhausted, fascinating, terrifying, tiny, hilarious, awful,
delicious, brilliant, deafening.

Now choose the
correct intensifier for each sentence.

One.

The variants are:
absolutely and really.

Let’s check.

Oh, Gabriel, I’m
so tired. The exam was really difficult.

Two.

The intensifiers
are: absolutely and very.

Check yourselves.

No, Robert, I’m
not just hungry! I’m absolutely starving.

Three.

The words are:
really and very.

Let’s check.

Oh my God,
Jennifer, my trip to the United Arab Emirates was really fantastic!

Four.

The variants are:
absolutely and very.

Check yourselves.

Justin, I really
like politics! I find it very interesting.

Five.

The intensifiers
are: very and truly.

Let’s check.

Ladies and
Gentlemen, you are witnesses of this terrible and truly
terrifying disaster.

Six.

The words are:
absolutely and really.

Check yourselves.

I’m very surprised
that your new house is really small. I though that you wanted to buy a big one.

Seven.

The variants are:
very and truly.

Let’s check.

Megan was truly
delighted when she found out about Mike and Loren’s wedding.

Eight.

The intensifiers
are: really and very.

Check yourselves.

The food that we
ordered at the restaurant smelled really disgusting.

Nine.

The words are:
absolutely and very.

Let’s check.

Katherine, we are
just absolutely thrilled to get to know your wonderful kids.

Ten.

The variants are:
really and very.

Check yourselves.

Paige, you’re
funny, kind-hearted, patient and really gorgeous. I adore you!

Eleven.

The intensifiers
are: truly and very.

Let’s check.

We found the boy
yesterday. He was truly exhausted, but now he’s fine and really happy.

Twelve.

The words are:
absolutely and very.

Check yourselves.

Harry, I can’t say
that it was a very nice place, but the pie was absolutely delicious.

—   Wow, it was so interesting!

—   I’m so happy to hear that, Larry.

—   Now I understand the difference between
the intensifiers “very”, “really”, “truly” and “absolutely” and what they have
in common.

—   Great! I hope you won’t use the word
“very” with strong adjectives in the future.

—   Oh, don’t worry, I won’t do that anymore.

—   I hope so.

—   Thank you very much! The lesson was VERY
interesting and REALLY great!!!

—   Ha-ha! You’re welcome!

—   Nathaniel, I also think that you did
great!

—   Thank you, Martin.

—   That’s all for today, boys and girls.

—   See you soon.

Not a month goes by that someone doesn’t write to complain about the ubiquity of the word absolutely. The following objections to this word are typical:

Please answer a question without starting with the word “absolutely.” It’s driving me mad, please please stop.

What’s wrong with responding, “without a doubt,” “you bet,” “of course,” “for sure,” or simply “yes”?

It [strikes] me as ironic that perfectly good English words and phrases like “that’s correct” and “yes” [are] being usurped by the invasive “absolutely.”

Complaints about absolutely have been circling the Web for at least 18 years. It was on the Lake Superior State University’s list of banished words in 1996. It continues to be the object of wrath on many blog sites, and it made another appearance on the LSSU list in 2014.

Perceptions that absolutely as a synonym for “yes” is a recent tic have led people to speculate as to what or whom to blame for introducing it into popular speech. In 1996, a critic put the blame on the movie Rocky (1976). However, the citations in the OED indicate that absolutely has been used as an affirmation since 1825:

“Is it permitted me to ask your majesty whether the opinion of the queen is conformable to that of your majesty?” “Yes, absolutely; she will tell you so herself.” (1825)

“Is such really the state of matters between you and Rivers?” “Absolutely, sir!” (1847)

“Do you mean to say that if he was all right and proper otherwise you’d be indifferent about the earl part of the business?” “Absolutely.” (1892)

Absolutely is not confined to use as a word for “yes.” It is also used to modify words in every type of context, from baby clothes to wartime atrocities:

Fifteen Absolutely Darling Onesies

Pablo Hernandez scored an absolutely outrageous no-look back-heel against Atletico Madrid this evening.

The Absolutely Most Delicious Wrap and Sandwich Recipes Cookbook

Killing reporters during battles in southeastern Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable.

In each of these examples, absolutely is being used as an empty intensifier, the way awesome is so often used.

Sometimes absolutely is used functionally, as in this household tip:

Get all the clothes that you want to store absolutely clean and dry.

Here the meaning is, “to the fullest extent.”

In a 2009 article on the CNN website, Rex Bossert, an assistant dean at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, is quoted as blaming O.J. Simpson for introducing absolutely as the ultimate modifier. Bossert points out that when Simpson was arraigned in 1994 and was asked how he pled, he didn’t say simply “not guilty”; he said, “Absolutely, 100 percent not guilty.”

Why does a word that ranks so high among verba non grata continue to remain so popular?

The CNN article also quotes an account executive who has embraced absolutely as her word for “yes” because it sounds reassuring:

Absolutely sounds confident and sure. In times of ambivalence, people could use a bit of semantic surety. When you use it, you just feel more confident.

Unfortunately, many speakers perceive absolutely as the contrary of reassuring. In the view of one college student at the University of Oregon,

[Absolutely] now means “a lot of bull.” It’s like “whatever,” or “sure.” It grates on me when a professor or another student says “absolutely” because saying it means they’re a phony (2010).

Bottom line: Absolutely as both a synonym for “yes” and a meaningless intensifier will probably be with us for some time. Professionals need to be aware that promiscuous use of the word is annoying, and that many speakers view such use as evidence of insincerity, untrustworthiness, and mental vacuity.

vacuity (noun): complete absence of ideas; vacancy of mind or thought.