DON'T SAY So, Very, Really | Go Natural English

"You have a nice smile."

"You have an absolutely stunning smile."

Which one of these phrases is more interesting?

Well, they're both nice compliments,

but the second one: "an absolutely stunning smile" is much more interesting,

advanced and creative.

This is the kind of English that you should know, if you'd like to speak like a Native English speaker

and sound more interesting.

I'm Gabby from GoNaturalEnglish.com

Where we have a complete english course

If you would like to join me to improve your spoken English and get my feedback then join the waitlist

It's open now at GoNaturalEnglish.com/prereg

I hope to see you there.

In this english lesson. We are going to learn how to improve your vocabulary with Intensifiers.

So, this is for you, if you've been learning english and you feel like you're stuck, like maybe you keep repeating

the same vocabulary words over and over but you'd like to add more interesting ways to

Express yourself and to impress other English speakers.

So after this lesson about

Intensifiers you are going to sound more natural more native-like and more interesting in English.

So, let's begin.

As a North American English speaker, I know that we love using

intensifiers, such as "so", "really", "very"

and there's other ones that we're going to talk about in a minute now

These words can be overused you might feel like

Americans are saying all the time that

Everything is so great and really awesome and very amazing.

But, this is only partly true. Of course. These words can be overused,

but these are also ways that we express ourselves

And so, if you are wanting to speak more like a native English speaker

I highly recommend that you pepper your English with more intensifiers.

It also makes you more likeable, because when people know that you're excited about something.

Well, that is interesting to most people and they want to know what you're excited about.

I already said three of the most common intensifiers

that you're probably familiar with you've probably already learned: "so", "very" and "really", right?

This is so interesting. This is really interesting. This is very interesting.

Ok, these are basic. They can be overused quite easily

So, in order to avoid overusing these common intensifiers,

today we're gonna talk about more advanced more interesting intensifiers.

And by the way,

an intensifier is that little word, like "so", "really", or "very" that makes the adjective

more intense, more dramatic. It gives it more emphasis.

We can use "so", "really" and "very" interchangeably.

Now with the more advanced intensifiers we can use them interchangeably,

but I'm going to teach you some pairings, or collocations

that usually go together that will help you to sound more native-like.

And these pairings are really helpful and practical

to memorize and to start using,

because this is the way that natives speak.

So, you really want to copy these collocations.

But first let's talk about how to transform a regular adjective and a

boring regular intensifier like "so", "very", or "really" into a more interesting intensifier,

Let's learn seven of the most common, most useful intensifiers, besides "so", "really", and "very".

Which can be used interchangeably. So I'm just gonna say very for these examples

Make sure with these more advanced intensifiers that you are repeating them after me because some of them are a bit long and

more difficult to pronounce than the simpler intensifiers and shorter adjectives instead of

very big you can say

enormous

enormous

Instead of saying very small say tiny

tiny instead of saying very smart say

brilliance

brilliance

instead of saying very bad say awful dreadful or

horrible awful

dreadful horrible

Instead of very sure say certain

Certain instead of very good or very nice say awesome

excellence or amazing awesome

excellent

Amazing and instead of very tasty say delicious

Delicious now, I never like memorizing

individual vocabulary words in a list without any full sentence examples after all we usually express ourselves in

Full sentences, right? So let's look at some examples

We're going to transform basic boring intensifiers and adjectives into more

Advanced interesting adjectives. Your house is very big your house is

enormous

My apartment is very small. My apartment is tiny

sometimes native speakers say

Teensy tiny to emphasize how small something is my apartment is?

teensy eensy weensy

Tiny you are very smart

You're brilliant

This movie is very bad. This movie is awful. Hmmm

I'm sure I left my keys on the table. I'm certain I left my keys on the table

This book is very good. This book is excellent. This food is very tasty. This food is delicious

Now we can also add some more interesting

intensifiers before our more advanced vocabulary words now

are going to get interesting we can use these more interesting intensifiers instead of really so and very

before the more advanced

adjective let's learn the intensifiers first and then I'll share examples with both the more interesting advanced intensifiers and

adjectives

Absolutely

Absolutely

Awfully awfully

now you probably know that awful is similar to horrible or bad but

Awfully also means very and doesn't necessarily mean bad. It can be a good thing to

completely completely

Exceptionally, exceptionally

Particularly now this one's a hard one. Let's slow it down particularly

Notice that there is a wise sound even though there is no y in the spelling

Particularly particularly

Quite notice that we have a W sound even though there is no W in the spelling

quite

totally

Totally notice that the second T

Sounds like a D because in American English that is what happens when a T is between two vowels

totally

dangerously

dangerously

highly

Highly as you listen to more native English speakers, you'll notice that certain

Intensifiers are often paired with certain adjectives

This is called a collocation or words that are commonly seen and heard together

They're just like best friends. So let's listen to some of these so that we can start to associate them together

Absolutely dreadful

Absolutely horrible, absolutely

delicious

Absolutely, wonderful. Absolutely. Amazing. Absolutely Incredible ,absolutely brilliant

awfully good

awfully interesting

completely exhausted

exceptionally intelligent

particularly helpful, particularly

interesting quite certain

totally crazy

dangerously fast

dangerously delicious

highly dangerous

highly intelligent

Remember these pairings called collocations

I find it easier to remember words together when we think about them as pairs or as friends

It's also easier to start using them and sound more natural when you know, which words naturally go together

Yes, we can mix them up and use different intensifiers with different adjectives

But these are more common and to a native English speakers ear

You will sound better when you use these common collocations. So now let's look at some examples in full sentences

Your house is very big your house is absolutely

enormous

My apartment is very small. My apartment is awfully tiny. You are very smart

You are totally brilliant. You are highly intelligent. This movie is very bad. This movie is completely

Awful, this movie is completely horrible. I'm sure I left my keys on the table. I'm quite certain

I left my keys on the table. This book is very good. This book is particularly

excellent, or

Particularly interesting. This dessert is very tasty. This dessert is

dangerously delicious

Now, can you think of more examples using more advanced intensifiers and adjectives?

I would love to see more examples in the comments so that we can help each other to improve our spoken English

I am so excited to be helping you to speak English more confidently to express yourself with

enthusiasm and

To enjoy English every day. So thanks for being a part of go natural English

Make sure to subscribe on youtube if you haven't yet and if you'd like to learn more with me in the complete

Go natural english course then join the waitlist. It's open now at gonaturalenglish.com

Pre-reg i'll see you there. Bye for now