GRADABLE AND ABSOLUTE ADJECTIVES

GRADABLE

ABSOLUTE

Angry
Funny
Strange
Tired
Bad
Excited
Good
very

furious
hilarious
incredible
exhausted
awful
thrilled
brilliant
absolutely

rather

a bit
Incredibly
really
extremely

utterly
totally
considerably

fairly
quite
slightly

ANGRY

FURIOUS

GRADABLE
fairly
A bit
rather
slightly quite
considerably

ABS.
Very
really

totally
absolutely
incredibly quite
extremely
utterly

GRADABLE AND ABSOLUTE ADJECTIVES

GRADABLE

ABSOLUTE

An_ _ _
Fu_ _ _
Stra_ _ _
Ti_ _ _
_ _d
Exc_ _ _ _
_ _ _d

very

fur_ _ _ _
hila_ _ _ _ _
incr_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _sted
a_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ed
_ _ _ _ _ _ant

absolutely

rather

a bit
Incredibly
utterly
fairly
considerably
really
totally
extremely
quite
slightly

ANGRY

GRADABLE

A Surprising Return Home

FURIOUS

ABS.

Before you read, decide what you think the surprise was:
Now read to check if you were right.
Yesterday I got home at ten oclock in the evening after a rather long day doing
quite interesting exams with students who were fairly good. I was a bit tired, as you
can imagine and I felt very hungry as I had only eaten an apple at lunchtime and
then had one or two coffees in the afternoon.
I went into the house and I thought it was a bit strange that the kitchen light was on
and the cupboard door was open, and then I realised why. Haggis was standing at
the door licking her whiskers and looking incredibly happy with herself and excited
to see me. She had opened the cupboard and enjoyed herself taking out all her very
nice cat biscuits and our pretty Christmas decorations which she had tastefully
arranged up and down the corridor.
1) Find the gradable adjectives and their adverbial modifiers
2) Now change them into absolutes and see how the style of the passage
changes!
Write your own story about something that happened one day last week. What
happened leading up to that, how you felt etc. Use the adjectives and their
modifiers in any way you like.

An Article of Some Interest:

The Verona City Council has decided to insure its Citizens
Before you read, decide what you think the article was about:
Now read to check if you were right.
Those of us who are used to reading bad news about tax increases and constantly
growing mortgage rates in the Colosseum, the local daily newspaper in our city,
will have had quite a pleasant surprise in Saturdays edition. The local council, in
fact, has taken out a rather unusual, new insurance policy which will protect
everyone who is resident in Verona if their home is broken into. It is not only if your
home is broken into that you are protected either. If you have the very irritating
experience of having your house keys stolen, for instance, the town councils very
good policy enables you to contact a locksmith free of charge, who will open your
front door for you. How do you know if you are eligible? The answer to this is
extremely simple, if you are registered as a resident in Verona, then this policy
applies to you. A very simple to follow guide has been provided for you on the City
Councils website, which provides you with all the information and extremely
useful contact numbers that you may need.
So dont waste your very valuable time. Go straight to the website now and have a
look. After all its always better to be prepared for a rainy day!

1) Find the gradable adjectives and their adverbial modifiers

2) Now change them into absolutes and see how the style of the passage
changes!
Write your own comment about something something you have read.
Why was the article interesting? Will the readers find it surprising? How is the
information useful? Use the adjectives and their modifiers in any way you like.

Gradable
Good
Bad
Big
Hungry
Tired
Cold
Silly
Beautiful
Funny
Frightened/scared
Dirty
Interesting
Pleased
Valuable

Absolute
great, brilliant, fabulous, fantastic
awful, horrible, terrible, disgusting
huge, enormous, gigantic
starving
exhausted
freezing
ridiculous
gorgeous
hilarious
terrified, petrified
filthy
fascinating
delighted
priceless, precious

Ask yourselves these things:

Is the adjective gradable or absolute? What do I want?
Is this formal or informal?
What can it collocate with?
What type of adverb can premodify it?
Verbs
Agree
Advise
Behave
Believe
Consider
Forget
Lie/Lie
Recommend
Remember
Die

Adverbs
totally, fully
strongly
badly (sincerely)
sincerely, firmly, strongly
seriously
totally, completely
convincingly
strongly
distinctly
tragically

Understand

fully

Mental and Verbal processes (verbs) Adverb before the verb

I agree totally with you
I totally agree with you
Behavioural processes (verbs) Verb before the adverb
He behaved badly
He badly behaved
What about this?
I agreed with what you said totally!