10 Ways to Create Emphasis | Advanced Grammar

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with  Jennifer. I teach English not Spanish. But  

sometimes I like to post videos about my own  language learning journey. Did you hear how  

I stressed "English" and contrasted  it with "Spanish"? When we speak,  

we can shift stress to a certain word in  order to focus attention there. Stressing  

a word means lengthening the stressed  vowel sound. English. We also tend to  

say a stressed syllable louder and at a higher  pitch, meaning our voice goes up. English. I  

teach English not Spanish. To emphasize  an idea, we can go beyond stress. We can  

use grammar and vocabulary. Let's look at  10 different ways we can create emphasis.

Sentence adverbs might emphasize a new idea,  something just said, or the truth. Truly,  

I love learning. I'm currently taking tai  chi classes, piano lessons, Spanish classes,  

and Russian lessons. In conversation, Americans  like to use the phrase "really and truly." I  

really and truly love learning. "Actually" helps  us clarify and emphasize the truth. Actually,  

I took piano lessons as a child, but  I'm regaining my skills now as an adult.  

In terms of mental health, tai chi has  been helpful indeed. "Indeed" can also  

have an initial position to stress the  truth. Indeed, tai chi has been helpful.

Intensifiers are adverbs. Intensifiers allow  us to emphasize a single word and not just a  

whole idea. I have a lesson on this topic in  my grammar playlist. Intensifiers include very,  

really, totally, utterly. Here are two  more. Have you ever felt completely lost  

in life? I've benefited from extremely  generous acts of kindness. Have you?

"Very" is an intensifier, and we usually use it  before an adjective or an adverb: very beautiful,  

very fast. But I'd also like to note that  we can use "the very" + [noun or pronoun]  

for emphasis. Judge Mercer. Ah, the one who hates  you and tried to get you disbarred? The very one.

The man is referring to one judge and one  judge in particular. That one and no one else.

Okay. I'm going to need your finest  sea island cotton with a white club  

collar and French cuffs. I have the very thing.

In that clip, the customer is looking for a  very specific kind of shirt. The salesperson  

informs him, "I have the very thing,"  meaning "I have exactly what you want."

In negative statements, we can use "not  any" to emphasize the absence of something,  

but often a simple "no" can be just  as strong if not stronger. Compare:  

He doesn't have any time. He has no time.  I don't see anyone. I see no one. They  

aren't offering any other alternatives.  They're offering no other alternatives.

I don't have any talent. I don't have any money.

I have no idea. You have no idea?

You have no authority. You have no opinions,  

and you have no choice in  this matter. Am I understood?

When we want to strongly deny  that someone isn't something,  

we can use "no" + [noun]. She's no friend of  mine. I like to paint, but I'm no Picasso. We  

can use "no" plus the name of a famous person who  represents the ultimate talent. I'm no Picasso.

I thought you've done this before. Well,  I have. It's just...it's no picnic.

He's certainly no Einstein.

This is a useful structure when you  want to emphasize the opposite. Put  

your own example in the comments. Maybe  you play soccer, but it's just for fun,  

so you can say, "I enjoy playing  with my friends, but I'm no Mess."

There are many expressions with we use to  emphasize states and conditions. Let's see  

if you know some. If a person eats  very little, we say they eat like...

a bird. If a person is extremely  thin, we might say they're thin 

as...

a rail. We also have set phrases that  we use used to mean "completely" or  

"extremely." Can you fill in the  missing word? Completely dark.

Pitch-dark or pitch-black.

Completely quiet.

Dead quiet or dead silent.

Extremely cold.

Ice cold.

Extremely hot.

Scorching hot. Boiling hot.

Totally new or completely new.

Brand-new.

The next few ways to emphasize an idea use grammar  structures. Remember grammar is our friend. It's  

a tool we use to organize our ideas and express  them as accurately as possible. Let's first talk  

about fronting. This means we put important  information at the front of the sentence.  

This initial position emphasizes these ideas.  Every year, I celebrate my birthday with a cake.  

Compare that to the more neutral statement. I  celebrate my birthday with a cake every year.

Time expressions commonly take this initial  position for emphasis. We set off such phrases  

with a comma. We do this with adverbs of  manner as well. Suddenly, they turned on  

the lights and called out, "Surprise!" With  prepositional phrases, in the initial position,  

writers sometimes use subject-verb inversion.  In a far away land lived a princess who longed  

to find love and adventure. This kind of wording  is common in books and in storytelling. We switch  

the position of the subject and verb after  the prepositional phrase. Do you know what  

other words require subject-verb inversion? I  have a whole other lesson on negative adverbs.  

They include seldom, never, rarely, hardly, and  under no circumstances. I'm including them in  

this category of fronting because the inversion  happens when we put the negative adverb at the  

front of the sentence, in the initial position.  This pattern is more typical of formal English,  

but you may hear it in spoken English too.  Listen for the inversion after negative adverbs.

Seldom have I heard an  explanation so well-rehearsed.

Not once did we do that.

Not once did you apologize.

And under no circumstance are  we to attempt direct contact.

The next three grammar structures are  called clefts, which basically means we  

split up the sentence and position a piece  of it for emphasis. To create an IT-cleft,  

we use "it is" or "it was." Then we name a  person or thing...who or that. The emphasis goes  

on the person or thing in the first part of the  sentence. It was my son who got me into hockey. I  

had watched my younger brother play a little, but  when I had to go to all the games and practices,  

I really started to learn the rules of  the game and appreciate the sport. Note  

that the person or thing being highlighted  is then followed by an adjective clause,  

an identifying adjective clause. Maybe  you know that I'm also on Instagram,  

but it was YouTube that launched my online career.  Can you create your own example in the comments?

The next pattern is a WH-cleft. We  can use a wh-clause as the subject.  

That's a noun clause that begins with a wh-word,  

a question word. The wh-clause comes before  the highlighted information. It leads up  

to information that's new and important.  What I really want is a full day at a spa.

I don't want to be like the rest of my  family. What I want is Fiona. I love her.

Using "what" is the most common pattern, but it's  also possible to create a cleft with other  

question words. How much money a person makes is  something I don't usually ask. A wh-cleft usually  

presents two options because we can flip the parts  around without changing the meaning. A full day at  

a spa is what I really want. Something I don't  usually ask is how much money a person makes.

ALL-clefts are similar. We place phrases that  begin with "all" at the front of the sentence  

for emphasis. Listen for these patterns:  all I hear is, all I want is, all I know is.

All I hear is I" want to get  married. I want to get married."

All I want is Seattle.

All I know is we need El.

Let's review with a quiz. 10 questions. Ready?

1. I truly love seafood. Truly, I love seafood.

2. The gown was utterly gorgeous.

3. That's the very car I want to have one day.  That's the very car I want to own one day.

4. I have no patience.

5. This is no joke.

6. Turn on some music. I don't  like when it's dead quiet.

7. Every every morning, I  stretch from head to toe.

8. It was Joseph who gave  me that advice, not Chris.

9. What the world needs is more compassion.

10. All I need is your love.

How did you do? Go back and review as needed.  Remember you can put your own examples in the  

comments. Okay? We'll end here. Please remember  to like and share the video if you found the  

lesson useful. As always, thanks for watching and  happy studies! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook,  

X, and Patreon. And don't forget to subscribe here  on YouTube. Turn on those notifications. [Music]