ADVERBS OF
INTENSITY
LOOK AT THE PICTURE BELOW, CAN YOU DESCRIBE IT?
FILL IN THE GRAPHIC WORD OR WORDS THAT
DESCRIBE THE ANIMAL IN THE PICTURE
WHAT IS AN ADVERBS?
• ADVERBS
• Adverbs are words that modify
• a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
• an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
• another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How
slowly did she move?)
• Adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what
conditions something happens or happened.
• Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and
phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -
ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The
words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are
adjectives:
• That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
•Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an
adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we
would say that "the students showed
a really wonderful attitude" and that "the
students showed a wonderfully casual
attitude" and that "my professor is really tall,
but not "He ran real fast."
Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative
and superlative forms to show degree.
EXAMPLES:
• Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
• The student who reads fastest will finish first.
We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with
adverbs:
EXAMPLES:
• With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
• The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever
seen.
• She worked less confidently after her accident.
• That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.
ADVERBS OF DEGREE
• Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity of
something. Adverbs of degree are usually placed before the
adjective, adverb, or verb that they modify, although there
are some exceptions. The words "too", "enough", "very", and
"extremely" are examples of adverbs of degree.
Adverb of degree Modifying Example
Extremely adjective The water was extremely cold.
Quite adjective The movie is quite interesting.
Just verb He was just leaving.
Almost verb She has almost finished.
very adverb She is running very fast.
too adverb You are walking too slowly.
enough adverb You are running fast enough.
THINK AND WRITE
Choose and Fill In!
Fill in the blanks with appropriate adverbs of intensity. Each question is followed
by three suggested answers. Choose the most appropriate one.
Hints: We cannot use very with comparatives. However, we can use other words
like much, far, very much, a lot, lots etc. Superlatives can be modified by much, by
far and by other adverbs of degree such as quite.
[Link] situation is _______serious.
a) very
b) much
c) very much
[Link] are_______ kind.
a) too
b) too much
c) much
Choose and Fill In!
Fill in the blanks with appropriate adverbs of intensity. Each question is followed
by three suggested answers. Choose the most appropriate one.
Hints: We cannot use very with comparatives. However, we can use other words
like much, far, very much, a lot, lots etc. Superlatives can be modified by much, by
far and by other adverbs of degree such as quite.
[Link] is _______colder than yesterday.
a) very
b) much
c) much or very much
4. My boyfriend is _______ older than me.
a) very
b) much
c) both answers are correct
5. I have been to _______ too many countries recently.
a) very
b) rather
Adverbs of intensity tell us the degree or
intensity of an action, adjective or another
adverb.
With adjectives, the adverb of intensity goes
before the adjective.
With adverbs as well, the adverb of degree
goes before the adverb.
Fill in the blanks using the words in the parentheses.
1. She finished the day _____________ exhausted. ( a bit /
totally )
2. Rommy isn't a good singer. He’s ______________ fantastic.
(absolutely / very)
3. The Serrano Towers in Valencia are _____________ high.
(absolutely / pretty)
4. Jerez de la Frontera is an _____________ interesting place.
(quite / rather)
5. That boy of yours is ______________ lazy. (absolutely /
extremely)
