Transcript
Tap a time to jump · select words to save
Hello students and welcome back to my
English course on adjectives.
In this video, I'm going to talk to you about
intensifiers and mitigators.
Now what are those?
Don't be scared of by their names.
Intensifiers are simply words that will make
adjectives stronger.
They will give adjectives more power or more
emphasis.
For example, two very common intensifiers
in English are ‘really’ and ‘very’.
Mitigators on the other hand, make the adjectives
weaker like the words b'rather' or fairly'.
But we're gonna go into a little more detail.
Keep watching.
Let's start with intensifiers.
And I have a list of intensifies for you.
Of course these are not all of them, but it's
a good start because they are very common
in English.
Let's have a look.
really
This video is really interesting.
The adjectives in this sentence is 'interesting'
and we make it stronger with the intensifier,
‘really’.
It's really interesting.
very
For example, I'm very happy to learn English.
The adjective is ‘happy’.
And we give it more power with the intensifier.
very
I am very happy to learn English.
Other intensifiers include absolutely.
For example, 'Your new dress is absolutely amazing'.
‘extremely’
Like
‘It's extremely cold outside.”
‘incredibly’
For example, ‘Your son is incredibly smart.’
‘completely’
‘My wallet is completely empty.’
unusually
‘The classroom was unusually quiet.’
And finally, ‘enough’.
‘He isn't old enough to drive.’
Now for this last sentence, the adjective
is old and II intensifier is enough.
It's a special case because as you can hear
and see, ‘enough’ always comes after the
adjective.
Intensifiers are commonly used with comparative
and superlative adjectives.
For example, with comparative adjectives,
we often use 'much'.
For example, ‘He runs much faster than me.’
‘Faster’ is the comparative form of the
adjective ‘fast’.
And to intensify the comparison, we use the
intensifier ‘much’.
So he runs much faster than me.
We also use ‘a lot’.
For example, ‘This red bag is a lot heavier
than this white bag’.
‘heavier’ is the comparative form of the
adjective ‘heavy’.
And we make it even more powerful with ‘a
lot heavier’.
And we also use ‘far’.
For example, ‘She is far taller than me’.
‘taller’ is the comparative of ‘tall’.
We make it more powerful with ‘far’.
‘Far taller than me’.
Now with superlative adjectives, we can use ‘easily’.
For example, ‘This is easily the best restaurant in town’.
‘best’ is the superlative form of the adjective ‘good’.
And we make it even more powerful by saying,
‘easily the best restaurant’.
And we also use ‘by far’.
For example,
‘Sarah is by far the smartest girl in class’.
Let's move on to mitigators.
Now mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers.
They weaken the adjectives.
Let's look at a few examples.
Mitigators include ‘fairly’.
For example, ‘It's fairly sunny today’.
The adjective ‘sunny’ is weakened by the
mitigator ‘fairly’.
So it's not sunny.
It's a bit less than sunny.
Other mitigator, ‘rather’.
So when I say, ‘I'm rather tired’,
I'm not exactly tired.
I'm a bit less.
The adjective is less powerful because of
this ‘rather’.
Other example, ‘pretty’.
‘It's pretty expensive’.
Which means it's not expensive.
It's a little bit less.
Or 'quite'.
Like, ‘The movie was quite good’.
The adjective ‘good’ is less powerful
because of this ‘quite’.
Now be very careful because if you use ‘quite’
with an extreme adjective such as ‘terrible’,
‘perfect’, ‘enormous’, or ‘excellent’
quite means ‘absolutely’.
It becomes an intensifier.
For example, ‘She is quite gorgeous.’
Means she is absolutely gorgeous.
It's more powerful because of the intensified ‘quite’.
So be very careful when you use ‘quite’
because depending on the adjective that you
choose, it has a different meaning.
And it can be either an intensifier or a mitigator.
Let's move on.
Just as intensifiers, mitigators can be used
with comparative adjectives.
Let's look at a few examples.
We can use ‘a bit’.
For example, ‘He's a bit faster than me’.
When you say, “He's a bit faster than me,”
it's less powerful than “He's faster than me.”
So ‘a bit’ mitigates.
It weakens ‘faster’.
Same goes for ‘rather’.
For example,
‘This dress is rather nicer than that dress’.
It weakens the comparison - the nicer.
And finally we can say, ‘slightly’.
For example,
‘My car is slightly older than your car’.
So it's just a little bit older than your car.
It's weak because of this mitigator.
Let's now move on to practice.
I want things to be very clear so I have a
few example sentences for you guys.
And I want you to tell me if you see an intensifier
or a mitigator.
Let's have a look.
First, ‘It's a very interesting game’.
Now what's the adjective in that sentence?
‘interesting’ of course.
What about ‘very’.
Is it an intensifier or a mitigator?
What do you think?
It's an intensifier of course.
It's a very interesting game.
It's more powerful thanks to this ‘very’.
The second sentence,
‘She cooks fairly good pasta’.
Now the adjective in this sentence is ‘good’.
I'm sure you know.
What about ‘fairly’?
Is it an intensifier or a mitigator?
It's a mitigator guys.
The adjective ‘good’ is less powerful
because of ‘fairly’.
‘She cooks fairly good pasta’.
The third example,
‘He's quite brilliant at speaking English’.
The adjective is ‘brilliant’.
Now just a hint.
It's an extreme adjective.
‘brilliant’ is a very strong adjective,
so what about ‘quite’?
Is it an intensifier or a mitigator?
It is an intensifier of course because the
adjective is extreme.
I hope you got that.
Next example.
‘She's a bit younger than I am’.
The adjective is actually a comparative adjective
in this sentence.
‘younger’
'a bit' acts as a mitigator of course.
And finally,
‘My dog is much fatter than my cat’.
Again, it's a comparative adjective - ‘fatter’.
And what about ‘much’?
What do you think?
Intensifier, mitigator?
It's an intensifier.
It's much fatter than my cat.
Good job guys.
Let's move on.
Let's go through the sentences again and focus
on pronunciation.
Please repeat after me.
It's a very interesting game.
One more time.
It's a very interesting game.
Good.
Second example.
She cooks fairly good pasta.
Third example guys.
He's quite brilliant at speaking English.
One more time.
He's quite brilliant at speaking English.
Moving on.
She's a bit younger than I am.
And finally,
my dog is much fatter than my cat.
My dog is much fatter than my cat.
Excellent guys.
Thank you guys for watching the video.
I hope this has helped.
Now using intensifiers and mitigators takes practice.
A lot of practice.
But I'm sure you can do it and it's worth it.
It will make a true difference to your speaking skills.
Thank you for watching.
See you next time.
Thank you guys for watching my video and for
watching this English course on adjectives.
If you want to see more videos on adjectives and
other things please show us your support.
Click ‘like’, subscribe to the channel,
put your comments below
and share the video with your friends.
Thank you and see you.
More Grammar Lessons
Hold Shift + scroll to browse
A2–B1
Adjectives vs Adverbs
Understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs in English and how each is used in sentences.
A2–B1
Adjectives
Learn how adjectives are used in English to describe nouns, including position, form, order, and common modifiers.
A2–B1
Introduction to the Passive Voice
Learn what the passive voice is, when to use it, and how to form it in English.
A2–B1
Adjective Order
Learn how to use the correct order of adjectives when describing nouns in English.
A2–B1
Irregular Plurals
Learn the most common irregular plural nouns in English and how they differ from regular plural forms.
See More Videos
Browse all grammar lessons
Present Simple Passive
Learn how to form and use the present simple passive voice in English.
About this lesson
Learn how to use intensifiers and mitigators to make adjectives stronger or weaker in English.