Intensifiers and Mitigators
Explore the rules and nuances of intensifiers like 'incredibly' and mitigators like 'barely'. Detailed explanations, advanced exercises, and a quiz.
What Are Intensifiers and Mitigators?
Intensifiers and mitigators are adverbs of degree that modify the meaning of verbs, adverbs or adjectives in a sentence. They are used to either emphasize or downplay the degree or intensity of something.
Intensifiers and Mitigators: Placement
Intensifiers and mitigators are usually positioned before the adjectives and adverbs they modify. For example:
She was so gorgeous.
After the verb 'to be'
I'm rather excited.
Intensifiers
Intensifiers are adverbs that make the meaning of another word (usually an adjective) stronger. Some of the most common intensifiers are:
very
really
extremely
amazingly
so
Take a look at some examples:
I'm very impressed.
This is a really nice place.
She handles it extremely well.
Tip!
Not all intensifiers can be used with any adjective or adverb. Boosters, which show a higher degree of the quality being modified (e.g. 'very,' 'extremely,' 'highly,' etc.) are only used with gradable adjectives, while maximizers, which emphasize an absolute or extreme quality (e.g. 'absolutely,' 'completely,' 'really,' 'totally,' etc.) are used with ungradable adjectives. Compare the examples:
She was very happy to be admitted to the prestigious school.
'Happy" is a gradable adjective because it describes a quality that can be present at a higher or lower degree.
She was absolutely devastated to hear the news.
"Devastated" is an ungradable adjectives because it describes an extreme level of the emotion.
Intensifiers with Comparative and Superlative Forms
Some of the common intensifiers used with comparative adjectives and adverbs include:
much
far
a lot
He runs much faster than me.
She's a far better driver than I am.
Superlative adjectives and adverbs also take special intensifiers:
by far
easily
My mother is by far the strongest woman I know.
I'm easily the best cook in my family.
Moderators
Some adverbs are neither an intensifier nor a mitigator. They act as a moderator and are relative based on the speaker's opinion. Such as:
quite
pretty
fairly
somewhat
kind of/sort of
this
that
Warning
'Enough' is a special kind of moderator that comes after the adverb or adjective it modifies.
This house isn't big enough for us.
We didn't leave early enough.
'That' as a Moderator
We can use "that + adjectives/adverbs" as a moderator, usually in negative sentences, to show that the degree of a quality is not as much as expected. It is usually used to talk about something in the past or something hypothetical. Look at the examples:
+'Have you met Mary. She's the nicest person.' - 'She's not that nice'.
It means the second person doesn't think she is as nice as they are saying.
My lunch wasn't that good.
I know you like her, but she's not that nice.
I just had lunch at McCarran's. It wasn't that good.
Tip!
'That' in this usage has an additional stress in spoken language.
'This' as a Moderator
'This + adjective/adverb' can act as a moderator to emphasize the degree of a quality. 'This' is typically used to talk about a current or recent situation.
We've come this far, we can't give up.
I have not felt this good since I was a little child.
I need a box this big.
He didn't expect to wait this long.
Mitigators
Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers. We use mitigators to make adjectives, verbs or adverbs less strong. Some of the most common mitigators are:
slightly
a bit
a little
Take a look at some examples:
It's a bit obvious what's going on here.
He seemed slightly embarrassed.
Warning!
Mitigators are not used with ungradable adjectives. We can't say something is 'slightly freezing' or 'a bit worthless' because these are absolute qualities that cannot be shown to exist at a lower degree or level. Instead, we use a group of adverbs called approximators ('almost,' 'nearly,' 'virtually,' etc.) which soften these absolute qualities:
This piece of rock is virtually worthless.
This painting is almost perfect.
Review
Intensifiers and mitigators are words that are used before an adjective or another adverb to make it stronger or weaker, respectively.
He was running very fast.
I was quite cold outside.
I was slightly confused at the complex instructions.
Quiz:
Which sentence shows correct intensifier placement?
He completely was unaware of the situation.
He was completely unaware of the situation.
Completely he was unaware of the situation.
He was unaware completely of the situation.
Which sentence correctly uses an intensifier?
The room was very enormous.
She looked extremely tired after the hike.
He was absolutely hungry.
I'm completely annoyed a bit.
Sort the words to form a correct sentence.
Match the beginning of each sentence with the correct ending.
Complete each sentence using the appropriate adverb. (There are two extra options.)
It wasn't
bad, but I wouldn't eat there again.
He seemed
embarrassed by the question.
He's a
better singer than I expected.
She was
happy to meet the author.
The diamond was
flawless under magnification.
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