Today, I was driving and I got to thinking about how much I dislike it when people use incorrect grammar. There are some things that bother me more than others and some things that just sound unsophisticated.
The two words that bother me today are when people use real and really incorrectly. Henceforth the vocab lesson for the day.
REAL: (adjective): not imaginary; actual or true
REALLY: (adverb): in fact; actually
Now, in reading the definitions, one might think that they are, in fact, interchangable. They are not. One is an adjective and one is an adverb. That means, that they both modify different things. An adjective modifies a noun. An adverb modifies a verb. They cannot be used interchangably.
For example, I am wearing a new skirt today. It would be appropriate for someone to say, "You look really nice today." Really is describing how I look. They couldn't say, "You look real nice." What are they saying? Do I look not imaginarily nice? Do I look actual nice? True nice? What are they saying?
On the flip side, a person could say, "That is not a real fur coat." Real is describing the fur. It wouldn't be appropriate to say, "that is not a really fur coat." I have never actually met anyone who has made this grammatical mistake. Thank goodness. However, they could say, "that is not really a fur coat." Confused yet?
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1 comment:
I never thought of that before- I'll have to watch myself and see what I say next time. Thanks Juniper.
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