UNIVERSITY OF PANAMA
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
WHAT ARE INTENSIFIERS? WHAT ARE SOME OTHER REGIONAL UNIVERSITY CENTER OF PANAMA WEST
Final project
POPULAR INTENSIFIERS IN
THE U.S.?
Intensifiers are modifiers in
Student
a sentence that add more
emotion to the word they Ernesto Fields 8-969-1743
really
are modifying. They give
emphasis and extra super This coffee
strength to your sentence. is super hot. Teacher:
Intensifiers are effective at very That’s a very pretty Sharon Obaldia
getting your point across in
necklace.
a clear way.
totally He
Subject:
was totally embarrassed be-
Integrated linguistics skills
cause he forgot his keys.
too It was too windy to go
outside. Department:
English
so He is so kind to me
Due date:
December 16 th 20
Why Should I Care about
Some forms to use it Intensifiers?
Discussion (Issue 1) Use intensifiers very sparingly.
The basic intensifier is 'very' and can be used with
The Intensifers many verbs. Other intensifiers often have the
Intensifiers can be effective if you limit their
use. If you were to use the word "very" just
same meaning as 'very' but use different forms
once in a document, then your readers would
WHY SHOULD I USE INTENSI- Intensifiers include: very, really, extremely, remar-
understand that "very" really does mean
FIERS? kably, fantastically, etc.
"very." Also, be aware that using intensifiers
Suggesting what to feel
You can express yourself more (especially overusing them) can portray you as
clearly with intensifiers, and your Intensifiers often subtly suggest to the other per- melodramatic
speech will also sound more natural. son what to feel. By naming emotions within the
(Issue 2) Don't double up your intensifiers.
Intensifiers are an important way to adverb, the other person has to consider this emo-
show emotion. They can also help tion and hence begins to feel it. Using two intensifiers tells your writers that
you sound more fluent, even if you you don't have the skills to find the right
As the adverb is not the subject, object or verb, it
don’t feel like you are fluent
is not as noticed and hence such suggestions may words. This practice might be efficient in, say,
Why Should I Care about Intensi- slip past conscious (or even subconscious) filters. a text or an informal email, but definitely
fiers? De-intensification don't double them up in anything with even a
Intensifiers are best avoided in formal smattering of formality.
Just as intensifiers in-
writing because many consider their crease emotion, the (Issue 3) Exercise caution when using an in-
use as lazy writing. When writing for- same effect can be done tensifier with a non-gradable adjective.
mally, the level of intensity should be in reverse, where the
achieved through word choice (e.g., natural level of emotion A non-gradable adjective (e.g., "impossible,"
by using strong adjectives instead of implied by a verb may be "unanimous," "dead") is one that expresses an
intensifiers) reduced. This can be idea to its maximum degree. If an adjective is
done deliberately to cool truly non-gradable, then it stands to reason
down a situation. It also that it can't be strengthened or weakened.
can appear in floppy lan- Dead means dead. Something can't be very
guage, where you are
dead. Therefore, using an intensifier with a
seeking to avoid saying
non-gradable adjective could irk some of your
anything that upsets the
other person and hence end up making very weak readers.
statements that have a very low chance of chan-
ging anybody's mind.
Borrowing from the negative
There is a curious pattern of intensification that
uses negative words to intensify positive verbs.
These words include: Awfully, dreadfully, fearfully,
terribly, ridiculously, insanely, disgustingly,
hideously, etc.
