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Strong and normal adjectives

17/9/2020

1 Comment

 
furious = very angry enormous / huge = very big tiny = very small freezing = very cold boiling = very hot fascinating = very interesting delighted = very pleased terrified = very scared spotless = very clean filthy = very dirty
hideous = very ugly gorgeous = very beautiful starving = very hungry ancient = very old exhausted = very tired delicious = very tasty awful / terrible = very bad brilliant = very good astonished = very surprised hilarious = very funny
The adjectives on the right (angry, big, small etc) are called normal or gradable adjectives. "Gradable" means that there are different levels. So somebody can be different levels of angry, for example. It's possible to be a little angry, quite angry, very angry or extremely angry.

The adjectives on the left (furious, enormous, tiny etc) are called strong, extreme or ungradable adjectives. There is only one possible level because they are already strong. It's NOT possible to be a little furious. However, you can say "absolutely furious".

Adverbs which you can use for normal adjectives: a bit, a little, slightly, fairly, quite, rather, very, really, extremely.
Adverbs which you can use with strong adjectives: absolutely, really.
Notice that you can use "really" with any adjective, normal or strong.
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Answers below.
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One more thing. You CAN say “very” although I’ve seen lots of posts on social media which suggest that it’s wrong. I would agree that strong adjectives make your writing more interesting. Also, if you have an exam and want to show that you know a good range of vocabulary, use the stronger ones. In conversation though, you will hear both types. I would also like to say that it isn't wrong to use "very". However, you shouldn't overuse it in writing. It's good to use more variety of vocabulary. 
1 Comment
EnglishGrammarPro link
10/10/2021 08:57:56 am

Interesting take on Adjectives!

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