The most useless word

I once had a student who said she had to buy a sympathy card and chose one over another based on something I had said in class. She purchased the card that said "Thinking of you in this difficult time" instead of "Thinking of you in this very difficult time."
When she told me about this, I was impressed. I was not very impressed.
I have told my students over the years that the word "very" is most often used as a form of description, yet it doesn't describe anything. And it often gets in the way of powerful statements.
What's the difference between "big" and "very big?" In my mind's eye, I cannot picture the difference any more than I can picture "very hot" or "very smart" or "very ugly." Descripton should provide the reader with a word picture. "Very" just gets in the way.
Consider the father who rushes into his home and tells his family, "The floodwaters are coming. We have to leave very soon." It almost sounds like next week would be soon enough. But how about if he says, "We have to leave soon." There is a sense of urgency to it.
Author Florence King puts it another way. She says to compare what she calls the "mincing shallowness" of "I love you very much" to the "heart-slamming intensity" of "I love you."
Go through your work and see how many times you've used the word "very." Then delete them.