All 5 Uses of
literally
in
Heaven Is for Real
- The elevator doors had begun sliding shut when Dr. O'Holleran appeared in the hallway and literally yelled for us to stop.
Chpt 10 (definition 1)literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
- After more than two grueling weeks at Colton's bedside, we had nearly hit the road back to normal—with the elevator doors literally closing, our family inside with balloons—when the whole thing crashed around us again.
Chpt 10 (definition 1)
- This time, Colton literally skipped all the way to the CT scan lab.
Chpt 10 (definition 1)
- The Bible says that with the Lord, "a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Some interpret that as a literal exchange, as in, two days equals two thousand years.
Chpt 14 (definition 2) *literal = actual (not figurative)
- Still, of the literally dozens of portraits of Jesus we'd seen since 2003, Colton had still never seen one he thought was right.
Chpt 27 (definition 1) *literally = an intensifier (to intensify what is said)
Definitions:
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(1) (literally as in: literally at death's door) an intensifier (to intensify what is said -- especially a metaphor)editor's notes: Since literally can mean actually true, but can also be used to intensify a metaphor, the reader has to use context to know what the word means.
For example, if you read "She stabbed him in the back," you would probably assume she betrayed him. But if you read it in a murder mystery where the victim was stabbed, you might assume you were being told that she actually stabbed him.
Because confusion can arise from this kind of usage, many authorities discourage using literally to intensify a metaphor--especially in formal usage.
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(2) (literally as in: literally--not figuratively) actually true using the basic meaning of the words (not an exaggeration, metaphor, or other type of figurative speech)