"You have a nice smile."
"You have an absolutely stunning smile."
Which one of these phrases is more interesting?
Well, they're both nice compliments,
but the second one: "an absolutely stunning smile" is much more interesting,
advanced and creative.
This is the kind of English that you should know, if you'd like to speak like a Native English speaker
and sound more interesting.
I'm Gabby from GoNaturalEnglish.com
Where we have a complete english course
If you would like to join me to improve your spoken English and get my feedback then join the waitlist
It's open now at GoNaturalEnglish.com/prereg
I hope to see you there.
In this english lesson. We are going to learn how to improve your vocabulary with Intensifiers.
So, this is for you, if you've been learning english and you feel like you're stuck, like maybe you keep repeating
the same vocabulary words over and over but you'd like to add more interesting ways to
Express yourself and to impress other English speakers.
So after this lesson about
Intensifiers you are going to sound more natural more native-like and more interesting in English.
So, let's begin.
As a North American English speaker, I know that we love using
intensifiers, such as "so", "really", "very"
and there's other ones that we're going to talk about in a minute now
These words can be overused you might feel like
Americans are saying all the time that
Everything is so great and really awesome and very amazing.
But, this is only partly true. Of course. These words can be overused,
but these are also ways that we express ourselves
And so, if you are wanting to speak more like a native English speaker
I highly recommend that you pepper your English with more intensifiers.
It also makes you more likeable, because when people know that you're excited about something.
Well, that is interesting to most people and they want to know what you're excited about.
I already said three of the most common intensifiers
that you're probably familiar with you've probably already learned: "so", "very" and "really", right?
This is so interesting. This is really interesting. This is very interesting.
Ok, these are basic. They can be overused quite easily
So, in order to avoid overusing these common intensifiers,
today we're gonna talk about more advanced more interesting intensifiers.
And by the way,
an intensifier is that little word, like "so", "really", or "very" that makes the adjective
more intense, more dramatic. It gives it more emphasis.
We can use "so", "really" and "very" interchangeably.
Now with the more advanced intensifiers we can use them interchangeably,
but I'm going to teach you some pairings, or collocations
that usually go together that will help you to sound more native-like.
And these pairings are really helpful and practical
to memorize and to start using,
because this is the way that natives speak.
So, you really want to copy these collocations.
But first let's talk about how to transform a regular adjective and a
boring regular intensifier like "so", "very", or "really" into a more interesting intensifier,
Let's learn seven of the most common, most useful intensifiers, besides "so", "really", and "very".
Which can be used interchangeably. So I'm just gonna say very for these examples
Make sure with these more advanced intensifiers that you are repeating them after me because some of them are a bit long and
more difficult to pronounce than the simpler intensifiers and shorter adjectives instead of
very big you can say
enormous
Instead of saying very small say tiny
tiny instead of saying very smart say
brilliance
instead of saying very bad say awful dreadful or
horrible awful
dreadful horrible
Instead of very sure say certain
Certain instead of very good or very nice say awesome
excellence or amazing awesome
excellent
Amazing and instead of very tasty say delicious
Delicious now, I never like memorizing
individual vocabulary words in a list without any full sentence examples after all we usually express ourselves in
Full sentences, right? So let's look at some examples
We're going to transform basic boring intensifiers and adjectives into more
Advanced interesting adjectives. Your house is very big your house is
enormous
My apartment is very small. My apartment is tiny
sometimes native speakers say
Teensy tiny to emphasize how small something is my apartment is?
teensy eensy weensy
Tiny you are very smart
You're brilliant
This movie is very bad. This movie is awful. Hmmm
I'm sure I left my keys on the table. I'm certain I left my keys on the table
This book is very good. This book is excellent. This food is very tasty. This food is delicious
Now we can also add some more interesting
intensifiers before our more advanced vocabulary words now
are going to get interesting we can use these more interesting intensifiers instead of really so and very
before the more advanced
adjective let's learn the intensifiers first and then I'll share examples with both the more interesting advanced intensifiers and
adjectives
Absolutely
Awfully awfully
now you probably know that awful is similar to horrible or bad but
Awfully also means very and doesn't necessarily mean bad. It can be a good thing to
completely completely
Exceptionally, exceptionally
Particularly now this one's a hard one. Let's slow it down particularly
Notice that there is a wise sound even though there is no y in the spelling
Particularly particularly
Quite notice that we have a W sound even though there is no W in the spelling
quite
totally
Totally notice that the second T
Sounds like a D because in American English that is what happens when a T is between two vowels
totally
dangerously
highly
Highly as you listen to more native English speakers, you'll notice that certain
Intensifiers are often paired with certain adjectives
This is called a collocation or words that are commonly seen and heard together
They're just like best friends. So let's listen to some of these so that we can start to associate them together
Absolutely dreadful
Absolutely horrible, absolutely
delicious
Absolutely, wonderful. Absolutely. Amazing. Absolutely Incredible ,absolutely brilliant
awfully good
awfully interesting
completely exhausted
exceptionally intelligent
particularly helpful, particularly
interesting quite certain
totally crazy
dangerously fast
dangerously delicious
highly dangerous
highly intelligent
Remember these pairings called collocations
I find it easier to remember words together when we think about them as pairs or as friends
It's also easier to start using them and sound more natural when you know, which words naturally go together
Yes, we can mix them up and use different intensifiers with different adjectives
But these are more common and to a native English speakers ear
You will sound better when you use these common collocations. So now let's look at some examples in full sentences
Your house is very big your house is absolutely
enormous
My apartment is very small. My apartment is awfully tiny. You are very smart
You are totally brilliant. You are highly intelligent. This movie is very bad. This movie is completely
Awful, this movie is completely horrible. I'm sure I left my keys on the table. I'm quite certain
I left my keys on the table. This book is very good. This book is particularly
excellent, or
Particularly interesting. This dessert is very tasty. This dessert is
dangerously delicious
Now, can you think of more examples using more advanced intensifiers and adjectives?
I would love to see more examples in the comments so that we can help each other to improve our spoken English
I am so excited to be helping you to speak English more confidently to express yourself with
enthusiasm and
To enjoy English every day. So thanks for being a part of go natural English
Make sure to subscribe on youtube if you haven't yet and if you'd like to learn more with me in the complete
Go natural english course then join the waitlist. It's open now at gonaturalenglish.com
Pre-reg i'll see you there. Bye for now