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Intensifiers
Level: 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:
| amazingly exceptionally incredibly |
particularly remarkably 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:
| very big | enormous, huge |
|---|---|
| very small | tiny |
| very clever | brilliant |
| very bad | awful, terrible, disgusting, dreadful |
| very sure | certain |
| very good | excellent, perfect, ideal, wonderful, splendid |
| very tasty | delicious |
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 exceptionally particularly |
really quite totally utterly |
The film was absolutely awful.
He was an exceptionally brilliant child.
The food smelled really disgusting.
- Normal and strong adjectives
- Intensifiers 1
- Intensifiers 2
| Be careful! |
|---|
|
Level: advanced Intensifiers with particular adjectivesSome intensifiers go with particular adjectives depending on the meaning of the adjective:
Some intensifiers go with particular adjectives. For example, we use the intensifier highly with the adjectives successful, intelligent, likely and unlikely:
but we do NOT say:
We use the intensifier bitterly with the adjectives disappointed, unhappy and cold:
You need to use your dictionary to find which nouns these intensifiers go with.
|
Level: intermediate
Intensifiers with comparatives and superlatives
We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with comparative adjectives:
| much far a lot quite a lot |
a great deal a good deal a good bit a fair bit |
He is much older than me.
New York is a lot bigger than Boston.
We use much and far as intensifiers with comparative adjectives in front of a noun:
France is a much bigger country than Britain.
He is a far better player than Ronaldo.
We use easily and by far as intensifiers with superlative adjectives:
The blue whale is easily the biggest animal in the world.
This car was by far the most expensive.
- Intensifiers with comparatives and superlatives
Level: Advanced
Adjectives as intensifiers
We use some adjectives as intensifiers with nouns:
| absolute complete total |
perfect real utter |
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.
- Adjectives as intensifiers 1
- Adjectives as intensifiers 2
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Hi there about adjectives as intesifiers the sentence: He's a complete idiot.
is the two words 'complete idiot' are adjectives together am i right? Thank you
Hi osmank61,
No, I'm afraid not. You have an adjective ('complete') and a noun (idiot) here: a complete idiot.
The adjective from the word 'idiot' would be 'idiotic' and if you wanted to use it you would modify it with an adverb: completely idiotic.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team