STRONG ADJECTIVES

They have the idea of "very" and are followed by a normal adjective

Examples

• gorgeous = very beautiful
• huge = very big

Base Adjectives	Strong Adjectives
beautiful	gorgeous
ugly	awful
dirty	filthy
good	superb, great, fantastic
bad	terrible
happy	thrilled
angry	furious
hungry	starving
tired	exhausted
funny	hilarious
big	huge, enormous
small	tiny
fat	obese
scared	terrified
cold	freezing
hot	boiling

With strong adjectives, for intensifiers we normally use: absolutely - exceptionally - particularly - really - quite

The film was absolutely awful.

He was an exceptionally brilliant child.

The food smelled really disgusting

Very, absolutely and really are used differently according whether the adjective is a base or a strong one:

	very	absolutely	really
Base adjectives
Strong adjectives

Examples:

• He was very happy; he was absolutely thrilled.
• He was really happy/thrilled.

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 these words as intensifiers with superlatives: easily - by far - far

• The blue whale is easily the biggest animal in the world.
• This car was by far the most expensive.

To practise this grammar point, please go to tolearnenglish.com or english file. For all the other grammar points in this unit (quantifiers, articles, infinitive/gerund), please go the OUP website here.