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  • Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

  • Now I have to say

  • I'm extremely excited about this lesson today.

  • Because I know that you're

  • an exceptionally dedicated student,

  • so this incredibly useful lesson,

  • is going to help you to take your English speaking skills

  • to the next level.

  • The tips that I share today are going to help

  • your speaking and your writing skills

  • sound much more powerful.

  • So how are we going to do that?

  • We're going to use intensifiers.

  • We're going to use intensifiers to make your language

  • more powerful when you're talking about extremes.

  • So intensifiers are words that are added

  • before an adjective to make it stronger.

  • It's simple, you take any old, boring adjective,

  • like 'boring' and then you add an intensifier to it.

  • The lecture was really boring.

  • See? I bet you didn't even know that you already know

  • how to use some adjective intensifiers.

  • But 'really' and 'very' are pretty stock standard

  • intensifiers, you know.

  • They're not really showcasing your English skills.

  • Let me show you what I mean.

  • That shop assistant was rude.

  • That shop assistant was really rude.

  • That shop assistant was extremely rude.

  • Dd you notice how the tone of each

  • sentence changed?

  • It suddenly became much stronger as we got to the end

  • so the role of an intensifier in your sentence is

  • exactly what it sounds like!

  • It's there to intensify the adjective,

  • to make the meaning stronger.

  • And that, my friends, allows you to introduce

  • more emotion and more feeling into your English.

  • Using intensifiers is going to help you to enhance

  • the meaning of an adjective,

  • to emphasize a point.

  • They'll also help you to sound really impressive,

  • definitely when you're speaking,

  • but these intensifiers will help you to write

  • more compelling essays and reports too.

  • So this lesson is definitely worth sticking around for.

  • Now there are intensifiers

  • that show high intensity, medium intensity,

  • and low intensity.

  • And intensity is talking about strength,

  • so there are intensifiers that are

  • high in strength, that are medium in strength

  • or that are low in strength.

  • So we'll start with intensifiers that are high intensity.

  • So these intensifiers are going to take your adjective

  • to the extreme upper limits

  • of the meaning of your adjective. They're very strong.

  • And there are quite a few of these strong intensifiers

  • to choose from.

  • Extremely. Completely. Absolutely. Utterly.

  • Totally. Entirely. Exceptionally. Insanely.

  • And incredibly.

  • Okay so let's test these out.

  • Her daughter is intelligent.

  • So this sentence is okay but to emphasise the point,

  • we can use an intensifier to make it stronger.

  • Her daughter is exceptionally intelligent.

  • Wow! She is very, very, very, very, smart.

  • She's been stressed lately.

  • She's been incredibly stressed lately.

  • The exam was difficult.

  • The exam was extremely difficult.

  • The sound was deafening!

  • The sound was absolutely deafening!

  • We are exhausted.

  • We are utterly exhausted.

  • So all of these intensifiers are at the high, extreme

  • top end of the meaning of the adjective.

  • So I have a question for you.

  • If you've just eaten lunch an hour ago,

  • can you use any of these adjectives

  • to say that you're feeling hungry again?

  • No, they're much too strong.

  • But what about if you hadn't eaten since

  • yesterday morning

  • and that was over twenty-four hours ago?

  • Could you use any of them then?

  • Probably, because I think you'd be pretty hungry.

  • So write this sentence for me in the comments

  • below this video. Use one of the intensifiers

  • to explain how you feel

  • - you haven't eaten for over twenty-four hours!

  • You're...

  • Quick! Write it!

  • But, please be careful.

  • It is possible to overuse intensifiers,

  • particularly these high extremes,

  • so your sentence can really quickly become too full

  • of strong emotions.

  • And you'll start to sound a little insincere.

  • If this sentence was a person, it would sound like this.

  • The most unbelievably phenomenal thing

  • has happened!

  • My incredibly brilliant and utterly amazing brother

  • just met an extremely wealthy man

  • who owns an exceptionally successful company.

  • That's a bit too much!

  • So just take it easy okay?

  • With intensifiers, less is more.

  • It's better to have one or two

  • really appropriate intensifiers

  • than to have too many in your sentence, right?

  • Now, not all intensifiers are high-intensity.

  • Not everything in life is so extreme, right?

  • So we also use intensifiers to show

  • medium and low intensity.

  • For medium intensity, these are really common ones.

  • Really. Very. Pretty. Quite. And particularly.

  • So these intensifiers are not quite as strong

  • and they're not quite as intense.

  • But they are good to use if you want to emphasise

  • a point a little, but not too much.

  • Your resume is impressive.

  • Your resume is quite impressive.

  • Those desserts are good.

  • Those desserts are particularly good.

  • The movie was okay but it got

  • pretty violent towards the ends.

  • And for low intensity, you could use

  • 'mildly', 'relatively' or 'somewhat'.

  • So these are low strength intensifiers.

  • They're useful to emphasise that the adjective

  • is not strong.

  • So imagine that you went to a comedy show last night

  • and it was okay. It was kind of funny.

  • Definitely wasn't as funny as you

  • thought it would be though.

  • So the show was mildly amusing.

  • Not much of a compliment for a comedy show

  • if it was mildly amusing.

  • So let's compare intensifiers.

  • She's been stressed lately.

  • She's been mildly stressed lately.

  • She's been pretty stressed lately.

  • She's been incredibly stressed lately.

  • See how we can add meaning and emphasis

  • to our sentence just by adding these intensifiers?

  • Learning to use them is definitely

  • going to help your English to sound more powerful

  • and confident.

  • So it's time for your homework!

  • It's your turn to write some sentences

  • in the comments below this video.

  • We're expecting serious weather conditions tomorrow.

  • So can you see the adjective in that sentence there?

  • 'serious', right?

  • So I want you to take this sentence

  • and rewrite it three times in the comments

  • with a high, medium and low intensifier.

  • Let's see how many different sentences

  • we can get in the comments together.

  • Well that's it for this lesson.

  • And now you know how to add more emotion

  • into your English and how to express yourself

  • clearly and naturally using intensifiers.

  • So please do write even more sentences

  • in the comments below this video.

  • I read them, I see them and I love giving

  • little tweaks and corrections to make sure that you've

  • understood my lesson correctly.

  • And if you did enjoy the lesson, please give it a 'like'

  • and subscribe to the mmmEnglish Channel.

  • I make new English lessons here every week

  • so don't be a stranger, come say 'hello'

  • and come and check out

  • some of my other lessons, right here.

  • Thanks for watching

  • and I'll see you in the next lesson.

  • Bye for now!

Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

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