Intensifiers and adverbs of degree | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hey grammarians so we've already talked
about the idea of the comparative
modifiers right so you you know the
difference between saying something is
cute and then saying that something is
cuter than that thing and then looking
at like I don't know let's say we're
looking at a puppy or a mushroom little
mushroom with a smiley face and you say
oh that's the world's cutest mushroom
right that's the comparative we've
already covered that I would like to
talk about something I think is a really
interesting topic what's that you say a
really interesting topic now what's that
really doing there in in this little
mussed little phrase and a really
interesting topic
well it's modifying interesting we
recognize that this is an adverb right
really is modifying interesting which is
an adjective
interesting in turn is modifying topic
but the question is what what does
really mean what is its function and the
answer is that it's a type of word we
call an intensifier so so the function
of really is to just double down on the
idea of interesting so it's not just an
interesting topic it's a really
interesting topic you could also say
it's a very interesting topic or even an
extremely interesting topic and that
kind of gets us into this other category
which is called adverbs of degree so an
intensifier when we let me just step
back a little bit so an intensifier is a
type of adverb that modifies an
adjective or another adverb in a way
that doubles down on the modified things
meaning so it's not just an interesting
topic it's a really interesting topic so
it's like extra special extra
interesting it it makes it intensifies
it really accentuates or makes clear the
fact that you're trying to drive home
the interestingness of this topic but
frankly talking about how interesting a
topic is is a pretty good shortcut for
boring so in order to talk about adverbs
of degree I'm going to talk instead
about
the incredibly deadly Viper which is a
creature from a series of unfortunate
events by Lemony Snicket so the
incredibly deadly Viper there it is
there's your terrifying horned Viper
yonder voop and and and what the word
incredibly is doing here is it is
serving as an intensifier right but it
is also what we like to call an adverb
of degree because it's saying the extent
to which this Viper is so very deadly
however if this Viper had a cousin that
was the somewhat deadly Viper you know
maybe we can blunt its teeth somewhat
and he's got like square teeth do that's
the somewhat deadly Viper you know we
can see that somewhat this word here is
changing the meaning of the phrase it's
not just the deadly Viper
it's the somewhat deadly Viper it's it's
import has been blunted slightly as have
as have its teeth and you could also say
you know what if he didn't have any
teeth at all this this ostensibly deadly
Viper what if you just have my ol gums
well then he's the barely deadly Viper
instead and these words like incredibly
and somewhat and barely these are
adverbs of degree so they illustrate the
degree to which the Viper is deadly
dangerous so that's that's basically
what intensifiers and adverbs of degree
do so whenever you see whenever you
think of an intensifier just think of
the word very you know and when you when
you're trying to figure out what an
adverb of degree is well that kind of
answers the question how much so if you
want to double down on the meaning of
something you use an intensifier like
very or extremely and if you want to
Express a degree of something you know
you could say let's say we're talking
about like a cup of tea or something you
want to express how warm it is you could
say it's too hot you could say it's
slightly hot you could say somewhat or
almost hot there are a lot of different
adverbs of degree but that's basically
the the distinction is an intensifier is
powerful but it has a very narrow usage
and adverbs of degree you can use for a
wide range of uses to express a variety
of different meanings
that's intensifiers and adverbs of
degree you can learn anything Dave it
out