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Description:

Want even more deets on "literally"? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

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English Language
Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:01

Literally, a la Shmoop. Lots of people like to have fun with the word

00:09

“literally”. They throw it around like a baseball or a frisbee...

00:12

...never realizing that the word doesn't mean what they think it means.

00:15

“Literally” is defined as “in a literal sense”.

00:19

Need a shorter definition? “Literally” means “actually”...

00:23

…“exactly”...

00:24

…“for realz”. Here are some examples. The car literally

00:28

exploded when Toby turned the key in the ignition.

00:32

The fuzz literally showed up two minutes later...

00:35

...but there was literally nothing they could do.

00:37

Um, yeah, because you can't unscramble an egg.

00:42

Here's how not to use the word “literally” in everyday conversation...

00:46

...or against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

00:50

You might want to say, “Cindy's head literally exploded when she found out Bob was cheating

00:55

on her.”

00:56

But you don't mean that Cindy's head actually blew up.

00:59

You just mean that she was really, really angry at Bob, the two-timing twit.

01:03

We understand the temptation to use the word “literally” to spice up a sentence. All

01:08

the other kids are doing it, after all.

01:10

However, using “literally” as conversational cayenne is a big grammar no-no.

01:16

Just ask Vizzini. <<vuh-zee-nee>>

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