What is actual?

Actual is what really happens or exists, not just what we think might happen.

Imagine you have a bag of jellybeans. You guess there are 10 inside, but when you open it, there are 20. The actual number of jellybeans is 20, not 10. That’s because actual means the real thing, what's really true or present.

• If you count your toys and find out you have actual 7 cars instead of 5, that means you did a better job counting this time.
• When you taste your lunch and say, “This is actual chocolate cake,” it means the cake really tastes like chocolate, not just how you hoped it would taste.

Knowing what’s actual helps us make better choices. If you know there are actual 20 jellybeans in the bag, you might be happier than if you only got 10. And if your lunch is actual chocolate cake, you’ll probably eat it all!Actual is what really happens or exists, not just what we think might happen.

Imagine you have a bag of jellybeans. You guess there are 10 inside, but when you open it, there are 20. The actual number of jellybeans is 20, not 10. That’s because actual means the real thing, what's really true or present.