a very astonishing

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "a very astonishing" is not correct in standard English usage.
The correct form would be "an astonishing" or "a very astonishing thing." Example: "The magician performed a very astonishing trick that left the audience in awe."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

News & Media

Wiki

Science

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

1 human-written examples

"I came to a very astonishing conclusion, and this is important," Mr. Sarrazin said, his voice invoking a bit of drama.

The New York Times

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

59 human-written examples

An outraged Rosebery denied all on his wife's behalf, while in December 1885 Lady Rosebery's only response on being told of Virginia Crawford's confessions was: "Dilke's behaviour is very astonishing in some reports, though it is not an actual surprise to me".

Wikipedia

IOS devices have very astonishing cameras for what they are, and since most people have a phone already, then you don't have to go out and spend extra money.

WikiHow

"It was very astonishing for me," he said.

The New York Times - Magazine

"It is very astonishing, this behavior," she said.

The New York Times - Arts

That's very astonishing," Watkins, from the Gower in south Wales, told the Observer.

The Guardian - TV & Radio

The results about non-localizability which have been explored above may appear to be not very astonishing in the light of the following facts about ordinary QM: Quantum mechanical wave functions (in position representation) are usually smeared out over all ℜ3, so that everywhere in space there is a non-vanishing probability for finding a particle.

SEP

It was very astonishing, that none of the transcription start sites within the viral promoters determined by the 5' RACE method corresponded to the transcription initiation sites predicted by the promoter prediction programme (data not shown).

BMC Biotechnology

It was a very casual, nervous, and astonishing midsummer lunch with the greatest psychedelic chemist in the world.

Vice

And Lena is a very unassuming boss – she is astonishing.

The Guardian - TV & Radio

And advances in astronomy to a very large extent generated the astonishing advances in our understanding of the universe in this century.

The New York Times - Books

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

If you want to keep using the word "very", consider rephrasing to "a very astonishing thing."

Common error

Avoid directly preceding "astonishing" with "very" as it creates a grammatically awkward construction. Instead, use alternatives like "truly astonishing" or rephrase to "a very astonishing thing" to maintain clarity and correctness.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "a very astonishing" functions as a descriptive phrase, attempting to emphasize the level of surprise or amazement. However, according to Ludwig AI, this phrase is not considered grammatically correct in standard English. The correct form would be "an astonishing" or "a very astonishing thing."

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

News & Media

33%

Wiki

33%

Science

33%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Formal & Business

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the phrase "a very astonishing" attempts to convey a high degree of surprise or amazement. However, according to Ludwig AI, the phrase is grammatically incorrect. The recommended alternatives are "an astonishing" or "a very astonishing thing". While present in some sources, as shown by Ludwig, this phrase is not grammatically sound and should be avoided. Use grammatically correct alternatives to maintain clarity and precision in your writing. The most authoritative sources tend to avoid this construction.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

a truly astonishing

Replaces 'very' with 'truly' for emphasis, maintaining the sense of astonishment with better grammatical flow.

an astonishing

Omits 'very', correcting the grammar while keeping the core meaning of astonishment.

a remarkably astonishing

Substitutes 'very' with 'remarkably' to intensify the feeling of astonishment.

a greatly astonishing

Uses 'greatly' instead of 'very' to emphasize the astonishment, although it's less common.

an incredibly surprising

Changes 'astonishing' to 'surprising' and uses 'incredibly' for emphasis, altering the original wording more significantly.

a profoundly surprising

Replaces 'astonishing' with 'surprising', modifying the emphasis with 'profoundly' to indicate a deep level of surprise.

an exceptionally amazing

Substitutes 'astonishing' with 'amazing' and intensifies with 'exceptionally', changing the tone slightly.

a decidedly surprising

Alters 'astonishing' to 'surprising', using 'decidedly' to stress the level of surprise.

a strikingly surprising

Swaps 'astonishing' for 'surprising', emphasizing the impact with 'strikingly'.

a deeply surprising

Replaces 'astonishing' with 'surprising' and indicates the intensity using 'deeply'.

FAQs

How can I correctly use "astonishing" in a sentence?

Use "astonishing" with proper article agreement (an astonishing feat) or modify it with stronger adverbs like "truly" or "remarkably". For example, "That was "a truly astonishing feat"".

What can I say instead of "a very astonishing"?

Opt for grammatically correct alternatives like "an astonishing", "a truly astonishing", or "a remarkably astonishing" to maintain clarity and correctness.

Is it grammatically correct to say "a very astonishing"?

No, it is not grammatically correct. The proper construction would be "an astonishing" or rephrase it like "a very astonishing thing".

What's the difference between "a very astonishing" and "an astonishing"?

"A very astonishing" is grammatically awkward and less common. "An astonishing" is the standard and grammatically sound way to express something surprising or amazing.