If you’ve ever been in a conversation with someone who said something that you strongly agreed with, besides exclaiming, “Exactly!” or “Indeed!” you may have also expressed your accord by saying, “Very true.” But is this affirming statement correct?
It is correct to say, “Very true” to emphasize that what someone is saying is factually accurate or is an opinion strongly shared by those in conversation. For example, you can respond “Very true” to “She deserves a distinction for her hard work.” The term functions as a response to something you agree with.
Read on to learn more about this verbal reaction and how to use it.
What Does “Very True” Mean?
“Very true” indicates that you agree wholeheartedly with what someone is saying. You can also use it in response to statements of scale such as, “Homework better prepares you for exams.” Where possible, answers are “Very untrue,” “Not true,” “Somewhat true,” “True,” or “Very true.”
“Very” is an adverb that emphasizes the intensity (or lack thereof) of something. For example, “It’s very cold.” It’s also an adjective that describes precision, specificity, and truth, as in, “The very thought of upcoming exams frightens me” (source).
“True” is also an adverb and an adjective that you use to describe an accurate action or express something factual (source). For example, “She aimed for the net straight and true.”
“Very true,” therefore, is a term that expresses a characteristic of something with a high degree of certainty. In other words, you can use it to emphasize an aspect of something that’s said. So, for example, “Historians would agree that what you say is very true.”
It’s an affirmative statement because it asserts that what the speaker is saying about the subject is correct.
How Do You Use “Very True”?
You can use “Very true” in response to someone, whether solicited or not. For example, if a speaker addresses a crowd you’re in, you may indirectly use this phrase to agree with them. Alternatively, a person may ask what you think about what they’ve said to which you’d answer them directly.
In other words, you can use “Very true” when agreeing with someone out loud or in a conversation in response to a question, whether you’ve just met or they’re a long-time acquaintance.
Relating to parts of a sentence, you can use “Very true” as a stand-alone sentence because its subject, the “thing,” which is true, is implied. On the other hand, the predicate is “Very true” because it describes the subject (source).
Although you can use “Very true” to refer to something that’s already happened, is happening, and is going to happen, you can only confirm the validity of the subject in the future tense if it’s factual.
For example, it’s incorrect to say, “It’s very true that she will have the highest mark in her grade,” because you can’t verify what will happen in this case. While you can say, “It’s very true that the earth will be round tomorrow” because the earth’s shape has been proven.
Here are other instances where you can use “Very true” in different tenses.
| Tense | Example Sentences |
| Past | Your words that day were very true. |
| Present | Your words are very true. |
| Future | Your words on that day will be very true. |
When Can You Use “Very True”?
You use “Very true” when you agree with what someone is saying to you during a conversation or to indirectly emphasize what a speaker is saying to you. You, therefore, use it mainly in verbal communication to express that you concur with what the speaker is saying.
You may or may not know the speaker personally in the above instances. For instance, you’re sitting at a bus stop full of people, and someone says out loud, “This weather is awful,” you may or may not acknowledge this by saying “Very true” because they have not directed their statement at you.
While your friend may tell you, “Tomorrow’s test will be challenging,” you could respond to them in any number of ways, one of which could be “Very true” if you agree with them.
Another instance in which you’d say “Very true” is when you know what someone is saying is factual.
- “The Earth turns so slowly that we cannot feel it.” “Very true.”
You can also use it when describing the scale of something.
- “This project is going to be a massive undertaking.” “Very true!”
Yet another situation you can use “Very true” in is when you want to express an opinion.
- Speaker 1: “We didn’t make much money in the business this year.”
- Speaker 2: “Very true. But we invested most of it into new equipment.”
Using “Very True” in a Full Sentence
“Very true” is a full sentence on its own, and you can classify it as a simple sentence because it’s an independent clause with no conjunction. However, it can also be part of a complex sentence along with a dependent clause. For example, “Because everything happened as predicted, his words were very true.”
You can also use “Very true” at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence:
- Very true.
- It’s very true that practice makes perfect.
- That finishing school increases your chances of getting a job is very true.
When Not to Use “Very True”?
Unless you’re documenting a conversation, or as mentioned, when answering a questionnaire in which you need to rate something, using “Very true” is rare because you use this response colloquially. Also, although you can use it to agree with an opinion, you should avoid acknowledging information not based on facts.
For example, if you’re explaining the benefits of sports to a classmate, saying, “It’s very true that sports help to relieve exam stress,” without any evidence, your statement is speculation. Here are a few other instances when you should avoid using “Very true:”
- When you disagree with someone
- In response to an inaccurate description of something
- When you have an alternative opinion
What Can You Use Instead of “Very True”?
Although it is correct to say “Very true,” you can express your agreement with something more concisely by simply saying, “True,” which gives less emphasis than “Very true,” yet still conveys that you agree with what the speaker is saying.
Another way you can communicate that you agree with something is by saying, “That’s accurate,” which still expresses that you concur with what the speaker is saying. Here are other alternatives to saying “Very true” that still convey the same meaning:
- I strongly agree.
- You’re right.
- It sure is.
- Absolutely!
- You’re spot on.
Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
You use comparative adjectives to describe how two or more things contrast. Superlative adjectives are also comparative words, but they instead describe the limits of certain qualities.
For example, in “She seems smarter than him,” “smarter” is the comparative adjective, while in “He is the wisest in his class,” “wisest” is a superlative adjective indicating that no one else is wiser than “him.”
Comparative Adjectives
To make an adjective comparative, you typically add “-er” to the adjective. For example, “smart” becomes “smarter.” While “-ier” replaces the “-y” in words ending in that letter. However, exceptions exist to this rule, such as “good,” which becomes “better.”
The comparative adjective follows the subject and action in sentences as in “Her Spanish results were better this time.” In this instance, her recent grades are implicitly being compared with her last ones.
When the object of comparison is explicitly stated, “than” follows the comparative adjective and the object. For example, “He scored better than his last match.”
You can still make a comparison where no comparative adjective exists by using the word “more.” For example, “The science teacher is more interesting than the biology one” (source).
Other examples of comparative adjectives are: “bigger,” “more innovative,” and “worse.”
Superlative Adjectives
Adjectives become superlative when you add “-est” to the adjective. For example, “tall” becomes “tallest.” Alternatively, you replace the “-y” at the end of adjectives such as “easy” with “-iest,” as in “easiest.” Irregular adjectives include “far” and “little,” which become “farthest” and “least.”
Sentences incorporate superlative adjectives as follows: subject + action + “the” + superlative adjective + object. To illustrate, the subject is in purple, the verb is in red, the adjective is dark blue, and the object is dark green:
- He studied the hardest for the test.
You can also use “most” to indicate a superlative where there is no one adjective to describe the greatest extent of something. To illustrate — “That was the most confusing lesson I’ve ever had.”
Other examples of superlative adjectives are: “cleanest,” “most difficult,” and “best.”
This article was written for strategiesforparents.com.
Read Is “Very Best” Grammatically Correct? and Is It Correct to Say “More Easy”? to learn more about the correct use of superlatives.
Final Thoughts
You use “Very true” to go beyond acknowledging what someone is saying by strongly agreeing with them. You use the term in verbal communication, where there’s an exchange of information. “Very true” is mostly a standalone phrase, but you can also use it within a sentence.
Comparing adjectives relating to “Very true” is helpful because you use the phrase to distinguish a tentatively true statement from a highly likely one. Considering superlative adjectives also gives us further insight into the use of “Very true” because it provides more emphasis than simply using the word “true.”