Look at that very beautiful woman

[hirashin]

Would you tell me if the following sentences would be used or not.
(1) I slept early yesterday. (I guess it should be "I went to bed early.")
(2) Look at that very beautiful woman. (Can you put "very" in this case? Wouldn't it sound starnge?)
Hirashin

 

[WonkoTheSane]

Went to bed early and no very.

 

[hirashin]

Thanks, Wonko.

 

[lanthas]

"Very beautiful" sounds redundant, just like "very delicious". Simply "beautiful" and "delicious" are enough.

I'm reminded of the following quote and think it applies to English as well:

日本語の場合、「美しい」と「とても美しい」じゃ、 「美しい」のほうが、美しいんです

 

[joadbres]

I (respectfully) disagree with the previous posters. Beauty is not just one single thing. It can have degrees. You can quantify it by saying things like "fairly beautiful", "quite beautiful", or "very beautiful". "Very beautiful" is not redundant to me.

Furthermore, if you google "very beautiful" in quotes, there are more than 52 million hits. So obviously there are a considerable number of people out there to whom this expression sounds OK, even if it is bothersome to the previous posters. In general, you need to decide if you are teaching/learning "Real-World English" or "English that is Satisfactory to Pedantic People".

All of that notwithstanding, in the case of your specific example ("Look at that very beautiful woman"), I think someone would probably not use those exact words. It's not ungrammatical, but sounds slightly strange.

 

[WonkoTheSane]

I (respectfully) disagree with the previous posters. Beauty is not just one single thing. It can have degrees. You can quantify it by saying things like "fairly beautiful", "quite beautiful", or "very beautiful". "Very beautiful" is not redundant to me.

Furthermore, if you google "very beautiful" in quotes, there are more than 52 million hits. So obviously there are a considerable number of people out there to whom this expression sounds OK, even if it is bothersome to the previous posters. In general, you need to decide if you are teaching/learning "Real-World English" or "English that is Satisfactory to Pedantic People".

All of that notwithstanding, in the case of your specific example ("Look at that very beautiful woman"), I think someone would probably not use those exact words. It's not ungrammatical, but sounds slightly strange.

I don't understand, do you disagree or agree?

I said not to use very in that sentence. You said you disagreed at first but later said it sounded strange.

Please clarify.

To my ear "quite beautiful" sounds fine but "very beautiful sounds odd in that sentence.

 

[joadbres]

I don't understand, do you disagree or agree?

Sorry. Because your answer was so brief, I did not realize that you were only addressing that one specific sentence, and nothing beyond that. In that case, yes, I agree. However, "quite beautiful" sounds equally strange to me in that particular sentence. I can't put my finger on precisely why that is, though.