Today, I learn a new word "literally"
I want to make sure if my understanding of “take it literally” is correct or not. So I try to explain it like this:
There is an expression “Don’t play with fire.” If I take it literally, I understand it by its original meaning. So I am thinking of the fire, keep away from it, because it’s hot and could burn my skin. But its general meaning is don’t do dangerous things intentionally.
Another example is “They were responsible for literally millions of deaths.” In this sentence, LITERALLY MILLIONS means there really were millions of deaths, not for emphasis there is a lot of people died.
Please check my article and tell me my understanding of “take it literally” is correct or not, thank you.
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Corrections · 4
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Thank you Jono and Brian
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But this is a word that native speakers misuse all the time (and it annoys language purists very much!). For instance, it's common to say something like, "This food is so delicious I could literally eat it for the rest of my life". Here, literally is simply used for emphasis. Literally shouldn't always be taken literally.
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Your understanding of the word 'literally' seems to be correct. "Don't play with fire." is a great example.
A note in case you are curious: when you say "Millions of people died" and you are NOT being literal, it is called hyperbole.
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Hey Jing Yao, yes you're correct!
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