@mickc79 Nothing wrong per se with "the word". Sometimes people overuse it. It is similar to somebody overusing, for instance, "literally" (extension idea? :)) incorrectly. Maybe I am a bit of language snob :) I am sure I have my own ticks, specially as english is no my first language.
@mickc79 Interesting conversation, thanks for the feedback!
Exactly! That makes a lot of sense. I can see now it is slightly different as you said. Thinking about it I would say there are of 2 possible uses (armchair mode on):
... (Nothing before)
"I actually do not believe in Santa Claus"
I think here there is no new information, and one could argue that it is also "incorrect" — since is is just used for emphasis, but no meaning would be lost with "I do not believe in Santa Claus" (I guess the emphasis could be considered something lost?)
- Alien was directed by Ivan Reitman
- Actually, it was directed by Ridley Scott
Here, I would say it is correctly used, since it is correcting a wrong fact — explicitly stated.
I believe the first case is the one that can be annoying, since it seems to make a correction when none is necessary. I think this unnecessary emphasis can come off as Besserwisser/Know-it-all.
Anyway, I spend the last 5 minutes writing "actually" and thinking about examples with it. This extension was supposed to _help_ with that (:
Thank you so much for this! Looking forward to reclaiming some of my much-needed time previously wasted reading actually's all over the internet. Massive game changer
@school_4_ants I read Benjamin Dreyer's "Dreyer's English" and he suggests an exercise: for one week you cannot use words like actually, literally, really, etc. He jokes about doing it for a month, or for the rest of your life. I thought I would take on it. It helps that it is my first extension and I have way too many projects!
Songbox
Actually no
Songbox
Actually no
Actually no
Actually no