Strong adjectives

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1:02Want to improve your grammar? We have a podcast for that. Listen to learning English grammar to improve your language for everyday conversation. I've got a sink full of dishes so that needs cleaning. I saw a photo of my kids when they were really young and my wife and I talked about what it used to be like when they were babies. And the questions are quite healthy. So it's vinegar. Oh, turn it to a debate. What do you regret? Do you have a long to-do list? And would you rather climb a mountain or sail across an ocean? Test your grammar today. Search learning English grammar wherever you're listening to this podcast or visit BBCLearningEnglish.com. Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I'm Rob and this is Catherine. Hi. And today we've got a fantastic program for you. It's all about strong adjectives.

2:09Yes, it is. We'll give you a wonderful explanation of what they are and how to use them. We'll also give you some very useful advice on how to use intensifiers with adjectives. And they'll be a fabulous quiz. And finally we'll give you an absolutely amazing tip to help you learn vocabulary. Wow, okay. Let's get going. There's no time to waste. Here's Tom. Now he took his girlfriend to the cinema and then for dinner afterwards. Very romantic. Let's hear how the evening went. While you're listening, try to answer this question. Was it a successful evening out? We went to see that new film. I thought it was quite funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious. We went for a meal. The food was not so bad, but the service was absolutely terrible. We waited nearly an hour to get our food. When it finally arrived, I was absolutely starving.

3:10So the meal didn't go too well. Tom and Jenny had to wait a long time for their food nearly an hour. What do you think about that, Catherine? I wouldn't last that long, 20 minutes and I'd be gone. Well, luckily they liked the film. Listen to this clip. I thought it was quite funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious. Tom said he thought the film was quite funny. Quite funny. Now when we use an ordinary adjective like funny, we can add a word like quite or very or just a little bit to give more information about the adjective. So we can say the film was quite funny or very funny or just a little bit funny. These words are called intensifiers and they're quite useful. They're very useful actually. Yes, so Tom thought the film was funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious. And the word hilarious means very very funny.

4:10And hilarious is a special kind of adjective. It already includes the idea of very. Right, and we call this type of adjective a strong adjective. And there are lots of them. For example, to mean very good, we can say... Wonderful, fabulous, amazing. Thank you Rob, three fantastic words there. But most of the time we don't use intensifiers like quite or very or just a little bit with these strong adjectives. And that's because the idea of very is already in the word. So for example, hilarious means very funny. So a little bit hilarious would mean a little bit very funny. And that doesn't make sense does it Rob? No, no. Okay, well back to the clip, Tom used a couple of other strong adjectives too. Listen again. What's the strong adjective? The food was not so bad, but the service was absolutely terrible.

5:12Well, Tom used the ordinary adjective bad and he used it with an intensifier when he said not so bad. But the strong adjective was terrible. Terrible means very bad. And this time Tom used an intensifier that we usually only use with strong adjectives. He said it was absolutely terrible. So when we want to make a strong adjective even stronger, we need to use one of these special intensifiers like absolutely. So we say very bad, but we say absolutely terrible. And we don't usually say absolutely bad. No. So here's Tom using another strong adjective. Listen carefully and see if you can catch it. We waited for nearly an hour to get our food. When it finally arrived, I was absolutely starving. Tom used the phrase absolutely starving. Starvings a strong adjective which means very hungry.

6:15And he used the intensifier absolutely to make it even stronger. Absolutely starving. Six minutes right, happy, Larry. From BBC Learning English. And today our absolutely wonderful topic is strong adjectives and intensifiers. And now it's time for a very quick quiz. Question one, what's the strong adjective for funny? The answer is hilarious. Question two, what is the strong adjective and intensifier for very bad? And the answer is absolutely terrible. Just one more question. Can you name three strong adjectives that mean good? And in the program today we heard fantastic, wonderful, fabulous and amazing, which describes me I think. And if you've got all those right, you're absolutely wonderful.

7:18And we've just got time for that fantastic vocabulary tip we promised you. When you're learning adjectives, make a picture in your mind of someone or something that reminds you of that adjective. It will help you remember the word. For example, I think that rob is absolutely fantastic. Oh, you're just saying that, Catherine. Thank you very much. There's more about this at BBCLearningEnglish.com. Join us again soon for more six-minute vocabulary. Bye. Bye-bye. This summer, don't squeeze in, spread out, find homes big enough for your whole guest list on Verbo. That's vacation rentals done right. Look your stay now.