{"id":1694,"date":"2014-11-11T18:41:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T00:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:57:05","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:57:05","slug":"fighting-for-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/fighting-for-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for Literally<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no escaping the maddening phrase\u00a0literally like<\/em>. An Internet search yields teeth-grinders like these: \u201cBeing there was literally like stepping back in time.\u201d \u201cEating this steak was literally like eating dirt.\u201d \u201cNeymar literally flops like a fish out of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words in the phrase\u00a0literally like<\/em>\u00a0don\u2019t belong together\u2014literally\u00a0<\/em>refers to objective reality, whereas\u00a0like<\/em>\u00a0introduces an analogy, and all analogies are subjective.<\/p>\n

We should limit\u00a0literally\u00a0<\/em>to unadorned descriptions of what exists or happens\u2014and exclude it from our interpretations or opinions. Style guides are unanimous on the topic of\u00a0literally<\/em>: the word should never refer to anything but verifiable facts. The truth of any statement containing\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0must be clear and indisputable to every sane living being, whether it\u2019s a baker in Yakima or a ballerina in Yakutsk.<\/p>\n

In 1909, the writer Ambrose Bierce offered this example of\u00a0literally\u00a0<\/em>abuse in his booklet\u00a0Write It Right<\/em>: \u201cHis eloquence literally swept the audience from its feet.\u201d Bierce\u2019s comment: \u201cIt is bad enough to exaggerate, but to affirm the truth of the exaggeration is intolerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why undermine so powerful a word as\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0when alternatives are readily available? Many authorities recommend\u00a0virtually<\/em>, and in a perfect world,\u00a0virtually\u00a0<\/em>would be the ideal substitute. It works fine as a replacement for\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0in the first example in the first paragraph: \u201cBeing there was virtually like stepping back in time.\u201d But too often\u00a0virtually<\/em>\u00a0sounds fussy. Note how humbler words work better with the other two sentences above: \u201cEating the steak was really like eating dirt.\u201d \u201cNeymar actually flops like a fish out of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something else to bear in mind:\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0is an adverb. Many writing instructors recommend purging adverbs from your writing wherever possible. (Mark Twain once said, \u201cIf you see an adverb, kill it.\u201d) Look again at the three original examples above. The adverb isn\u2019t needed in any of them. Adding\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0appears to be no more than an easy, lazy way to spice up three humdrum, clich\u00e9-heavy sentences. Roy H. Copperud addresses this ploy in his\u00a0Dictionary of Usage and Style<\/em>: \u201cThe habit of demanding that the reader be thunderstruck by commonplaces, which the meaningless use of\u00a0literally<\/em>\u00a0exemplifies, is tiresome.\u201d<\/p>\n

No other word in English can quite say what\u00a0literally\u00a0<\/em>says. That is why the fight to keep its authority uncorrupted is so important to us sticklers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is there a better way to say these sentences? Suggested solutions are below.<\/p>\n

1. Literally nobody goes there anymore.
\n2. Misusing this word is literally the worst mistake you can make.
\n3. I literally died laughing and had to run out of the room.
\n4. These people must literally live in another galaxy.
\n5. The distraught man literally fell to his knees and prayed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Virtually nobody goes there anymore.
\n2. Misusing this word may be among the worst mistakes you can make.
\n3. I laughed so hard I had to run out of the room.
\n4. These people must live in another galaxy.
\n5. The distraught man fell to his knees and prayed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no escaping the maddening phrase\u00a0literally like. An Internet search yields teeth-grinders like these: \u201cBeing there was literally like stepping back in time.\u201d \u201cEating this steak was literally like eating dirt.\u201d \u201cNeymar literally flops like a fish out of water.\u201d The words in the phrase\u00a0literally like\u00a0don\u2019t belong together\u2014literally\u00a0refers to objective reality, whereas\u00a0like\u00a0introduces an analogy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}