ShmoopTube

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Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by chopsticks.

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The eating utensils, not that annoying song that even monkeys can play on the piano.

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The best placement for the word “actually” would be where?

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And here are the potential answers...

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The word “actually” is an adverb. Like all adverbs, it’s pretty versatile.

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It can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

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It’s great for the adverb that it’s so multitalented.

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In this job climate, we all need every leg-up we can get.

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Let’s read the segment of the original sentence in which the word “actually” appears.

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“Well, the process is very actually simple...”

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Hm, sounds like “actually” might be slacking a bit on its adverbial duties.

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We’d advise it to take its job more seriously, or else it might find itself in the unemployment line.

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Option (A) recommends that we leave “actually” where it is, but this doesn’t work.

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As is, the adverb “very” is modifying “actually,” but “very actually” isn’t

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a construct that’s typically used in the English language--except maybe in an E. E. Cummings poem.

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We’re guessing the writer wasn’t trying to slip experimental poetry into this article,

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so we’ll go ahead cross out choice (A).

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Option (C) has another bad suggestion, but we’ll read the sentence its way just for fun.

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Show: “Well, the actually process is very simple...”

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See, we said it was a bad suggestion.

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Here, the adverb “actually” is modifying the noun “process.”

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This is the kind of thing that makes grammarians really upset.

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As we said earlier, adverbs are only allowed to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

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Anything else is out of bounds, so choice (C) is wrong.

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Now we’re down to (B) and (D).

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We’ll read the sentence both ways and see which works the best.

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Here goes...

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(B) “Well, the process is very simple actually...”

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or...

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(D) “Well, the process is actually very simple...”

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Option (B) wouldn’t sound weird in a normal conversation,

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but out of the two, option (D) is the better bet.

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“Actually” is modifying its fellow adverb “very,” and to avoid confusion it’s

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usually best to place the modifier directly before the word it’s modifying.

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Quick question before we go...

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What if we want a 100%-guaranteed-to-come-true fortune? Is the process still simple?

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