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Intensifiers: Intensifiers With Strong/extreme Adjectives

This document discusses intensifiers and down-toners used to modify adjectives. [1] Intensifiers like "very", "really", and "extremely" are used to strengthen adjectives, while words like "enough" come after adjectives. [2] Strong adjectives don't typically use "very" but instead use intensifiers like "absolutely" and "completely". [3] Down-toners like "a bit", "kind of", and "fairly" are used to soften or tone down descriptions.

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61 views2 pages

Intensifiers: Intensifiers With Strong/extreme Adjectives

This document discusses intensifiers and down-toners used to modify adjectives. [1] Intensifiers like "very", "really", and "extremely" are used to strengthen adjectives, while words like "enough" come after adjectives. [2] Strong adjectives don't typically use "very" but instead use intensifiers like "absolutely" and "completely". [3] Down-toners like "a bit", "kind of", and "fairly" are used to soften or tone down descriptions.

Uploaded by

AnaMonterodelRio
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Intensifiers

We use words like very, really and extremely to make adjectives stronger:
It’s a very interesting story
Everyone was very excited.
It’s a really interesting story.
Everyone was extremely excited
We call these words intensifiers. Other intensifiers are:

amazingly exceptionally incredibly


remarkably particularly unusually

We also use enough to say more about an adjective, but enough comes after its
adjective:
If you are seventeen you are old enough to drive a car.
I can’t wear those shoes. They’re not big enough.

Intensifiers with strong/extreme adjectives:


Strong adjectives are words like:
enormous, huge = very big
tiny = very small
brilliant = very clever
awful; terrible; disgusting; dreadful = very bad
certain = very sure
excellent; perfect; ideal; wonderful; splendid = very good
delicious = very tasty
We do not normally use very with these adjectives. We do not say something is
"very enormous" or someone is "very brilliant".

With strong/extremes adjectives, we normally use intensifiers like:

absolutely completely totally utterly


really exceptionally particularly quite

The film was absolutely awful.


He was an exceptionally brilliant child.
The food smelled really disgusting.
Making the description softer

Sometimes we want to describe something in a less forceful way, or ‘tone down’


our description:

Commonly used down-toners include:

a bit Nearly (almost)


almost Pretty (moderately)
Fairly (more or less) Rather (to some degree)
Hardly (only just) Reasonably (quite)
kind of / sort of Slightly
Moderately Somewhat (slightly)

She was a bit upset.


The flowers are rather beautiful.
He is kind of mad.
It is a rather boring play.
I am fairly tired.

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