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Intensifiers -- Americans love to sound exciting and interesting by using intensifiers. Yes, they can be overused, but I notice that many English learners don\\u2019t use them at all! The English students I have who DO use them sound much more natural and native-like.\\xa0

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Intensifiers you probably already know include:

So

Really

Very

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And also we can use more interesting words instead of simply re-using these 3 basic words over and over.

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Very big = enormous

Very small = tiny

Very smart = brilliant

Very bad = awful, horrible, dreadful

Very sure = certain

Very good = excellent, amazing, awesome

Very tasty = delicious

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Examples:

1. Your house is very big \\u2192 enormous
2. My apartment is very small \\u2192 tiny
3. You are very smart \\u2192 brilliant
4. This movie is very bad \\u2192 awful
5. I\\u2019m very sure I left my keys on the table \\u2192 I\\u2019m certain
6. This book is very good \\u2192 excellent
7. This food is very tasty \\u2192 delicious

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We can also add more interesting intensifiers before the better vocabulary words:

• Absolutely
• Awfully*
• Completely
• Exceptionally
• Particularly
• Quite
• Totally
• Dangerously
• highly

You\\u2019ll notice that often, certain intensifiers are paired with specific vocabulary words, for example:

Absolutely dreadful, horrible, delicious

Absolutely amazing, incredible, wonderful, fantastic, brilliant

Awfully good, interesting

Completely exhausted

Exceptionally intelligent

Particularly helpful

Quite certain

Totally crazy

Dangerously fast

Highly dangerous

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Remember these pairings, called collocations! You\\u2019ll sound much more native-like. We can mix them up in different combinations too, but those are really common and easy to memorize and start using.

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Examples

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1. Your house is very big \\u2192 absolutely enormous
2. My apartment is very small \\u2192 awfully tiny
3. You are very smart \\u2192 totally brilliant
4. This movie is very bad \\u2192 completely awful
5. I\\u2019m very sure I left my keys on the table \\u2192 I\\u2019m quite certain
6. This book is very good \\u2192 particularly excellent
7. This food is very tasty \\u2192 dangerously delicious

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