Intensifiers:

(Intermediate)

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:

exceptionall
amazingly incredibly
y

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 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 adjectives, we normally use intensifiers like:

absolutely completely totally utterly

particularl
really exceptionally quite
y

The film was absolutely awful.

He was an exceptionally brilliant child.
The food smelled really disgusting
Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers. When we want to make an
adjective less strong we use these words:

fairly - rather - quite

By the end of the day we were rather tired.

The film wasn’t great but it was quite exciting.

and in informal English: pretty

We had a pretty good time at the party.

We call these words mitigators.

Warning

quite

When we use quite with a strong adjective it means the same

as absolutely:

The food was quite awful. = The food was absolutely awful.
As a child he was quite brilliant. = As a child he was absolutely brilliant.

Mitigators with comparatives:

We use these words and phrases as mitigators:

a bit - just a bit - a little - a little bit - just a little bit - rather - slightly

She’s a bit younger than I am.

It takes two hours on the train but it is a little bit longer by road
This one is rather bigger (than the other one).

We use slightly and rather as mitigators with comparative adjectives in front of

a noun:

This is a slightly more expensive model than that one.

This is a rather bigger one than the other.

Adjectives as intensifiers:

We use some adjectives as intensifiers:

 absolute
total - complete
utter - perfect
real

We say:

He’s a complete idiot.

They were talking utter nonsense.

… but we do not say:

The idiot was complete.

The nonsense they were talking was utter.

Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Adjectives can be either gradable or non-gradable

Gradable

Gradable adjectives are adjectives like ‘cold’ ‘hot’ and ‘frightened’. You can
be very cold or a bit cold. Gradable adjectives show that something can have
different degrees.

Non-gradable

Non-gradable adjectives are adjectives like ‘married’ or ‘wooden’. You can’t

be very married or a bit married. Non-gradable adjectives do not have different
degrees.

Adjectives like ‘terrifying’, ‘freezing’ ‘amazing’ are also non-gradable adjectives.

They already contain the idea of ‘very’ in their definitions – ‘freezing’ means ‘very
cold’ etc.

Using adverbs of degree

When we use adverbs of degree to modify adjectives we usually have to use

different adverbs for gradable and non-gradable adjectives.

 NOT I’m completely hot.

 NOT It was very fantastic!

With gradable adjectives

 It’s a bit cold in here. Shall I turn the fire on?

 He’s very interested in history. Why don’t you buy him a history book?
 This exercise is really difficult. I don’t know any of the answers.
 I’m extremely tired. I’m going to bed.

The adverbs a bit, very, really, extremely and quite can all be used with gradable
adjectives.

With non-gradable adjectives

 It’s absolutely freezing in here. Shall I turn the fire on?

 He’s completely fascinated by history. Why don’t you buy him a history book?
 This exercise is absolutely impossible.
 That film is really terrifying. Don’t go and see it on your own.

The adverbs absolutely and completely can be used with non-gradable adjectives.

Notice that really can be used with both gradable AND non-gradable adjectives.

NOTE: There are other adverbs of degree that we haven’t covered in this section.
The ones included here are some of the most common.