Conditionals:
Emphatic Adjectives
Introduction
What is an
emphatic adjective? An adjective describes a noun:
ripe
apple.
big
truck.
We can strengthen most adjectives by adding the word ‘very’:
very ripe apple.
very bigtruck.
But there are some adjective that already mean ‘very’.For example, ‘
massive ’ means
‘
very big’. It would sound strange to say ‘very massive’. These adjectives that
already carry the meaning ‘very’ are called emphatic adjectives. Sometimes
they are called strong adjectives.
Rationale
for Learning
Why is it
good to learn emphatic adjectives?
English is an expressive language. This means that a good English
speaker does not necessarily use the simplest way to communicate an idea. It is
better to have a wide range of vocabulary in order to express an idea in many
different ways. Rather than say ‘very big’, say ‘massive’. Rather than say
‘very good’, say ‘terrific’. In this way, you can easily expand your vocabulary
and become more expressive. Learning emphatic adjectives is a terrific way to
expand your vocabulary and sound more natural when speaking English.
