Intensifying adverbs

Some actions can have different levels of intensity.

For example, in this next snippet, how tightly is the waxy skin stretched over the bones of his face?

The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(1999)

The skin was stretched so tightly.

The word 'tightly' is what we call a qualifier adverb, which tells us the quality of the action: the skin is stretched tightly.

In contrast, the word 'so' is an intensifier adverb, which tells us how tightly: the skin is stretched so tightly.

We can highlight each component separately like this:

The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(1999)

If you've done the adjective groups lesson, then some of these terms might sound familiar: we saw intensifier and qualifier adverbs embedded in adjective groups in that lesson ("...his oddly solid hands...").

Told you that adverbs can appear in lots of places!

Intensifiers such as so, most, very, or really generally only make sense when they're modifying qualifiers, as in:

very quickly walked—makes sense
bows most courteously—makes sense
interrupted really stupidly—makes sense

If you've done the lesson on adjective groups, you might remember that you can also use intensifiers on describer adjectives as in:

the very quick walk—makes sense
a most courteous bow—makes sense
some really stupid interruptions—makes sense

On the other hand, intensifiers usually sound strange, or even don't make sense, when applied directly to verbs:

very walked—doesn't make sense
bows most—hmm...
interrupted really—hmm...

In contrast to intensifiers, qualifiers such as tightly, quickly, or fast can operate directly on a verb, for example:

tightly stretched—makes sense
quickly answered—makes sense
runs fast—makes sense

Here's a different snippet. How did the board creak?

The board creaked most terribly and they all ducked down, waiting for something awful to happen.

The Fantastic Mr Fox(1970)

It creaked most terribly.

Let's change the intensifier and the qualifier:

The board creaked quite loudly and they all ducked down, waiting for something awful to happen.

The board creaked right then and they all ducked down, waiting for something awful to happen.

Some common intensifying adverbs include very, so, too, highly, really, truly, utterly, absolutely, extremely, completely, somewhat and rather.

Write your own variation, but change the intensifier and qualifier.

Adverb groups

Intensifying adverbs