Brand New Sentence

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I am literally judging books by their cover and they assume I am a prophet. (lemmy.today)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Wren@lemmy.today to c/BrandNewSentence@lemmy.today

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[–] thekidxp@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah both of those uses are fine in English. The first usage is "more" correct I would say. Literally is supposed to be used to basically say that the thing is actually happening. The second usage is also common at least in American English. Usually it's used with common figures of speech. "I was literally judging books by their cover." Technically he wasn't, he was judging people. Some people will be pedantic and call you out for that. So if you're taking an English class I'd avoid that usage but it's really common to hear it used that way. "I would literally die." It strengthens the phrase.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks!
And I've heard similar expressions like in the last example you mentioned being used before, so should have known by myself...