extreme adverb + adjective – English Grammar Profiler
Let’s look at a few student speaking test examples and one from an expert using extreme adverbs modifying gradable adjectives:
There are a few cases in which the parents have been excellent guides to the students,
and as you know guides are extremely important for a child‘s career.
TLC male India C1
Native speaker: I haven’t read it but I‘ve seen the film, have you seen the film?
Student: Yes, I have, but it’s totally different from the book.
TLC male India B1
It’s absolutely necessary to find a solution,
and I know that in some cases, for example,
in some sports facilities built in Madrid, they are trying to remodel the space.
TLC male Spain C1
These are all details that are incredibly easy to record contemporaneously but are also incredibly easy to forget later on.
(Listen to this sentence)
We can grade most adjectives with different levels of their quality. (There are only a few non-gradable adjectives such as ‘dead‘)
There are some adverbs that have the meaning ‘very high degree’ like ‘extremely’. Which CEFR level can do this?
In OXFORD at B1 for example: ‘Absolutely + adjective’ is defined as:
express strong feelings or extreme qualities to mean ‘extremely’ or emphasize that something is completely true
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 69 in ADJECTIVES is defined as:
modify gradable adjectives with extreme adverbs of degree (‘absolutely’, ‘extremely‘, ‘incredibly’, ‘totally‘) to intensify their meaning.
This point also overlaps ‘a wide range of adverbs with adjectives to express degree or intensity‘
An iWeb search for:
extremely|absolutely|incredibly|totally _JJ
1 EXTREMELY IMPORTANT 53789 2 TOTALLY DIFFERENT 47353 3 EXTREMELY DIFFICULT 36700 4 EXTREMELY HIGH 36501 5 EXTREMELY HELPFUL 25387 6 ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY 22485 7 EXTREMELY LOW 21791 8 EXTREMELY RARE 20804 9 EXTREMELY POPULAR 20682
10 EXTREMELY EASY 20394
That‘s extremely easy for you to say.
watch
11 EXTREMELY USEFUL 19352 12 ABSOLUTELY AMAZING 18132 13 INCREDIBLY EASY 16094 14 EXTREMELY HARD 15872 15 INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT 15640 16 TOTALLY NEW 12674 17 EXTREMELY HAPPY 12486 18 ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL 12348 19 ABSOLUTELY PERFECT 11923 20 EXTREMELY POWERFUL 11885 21 ABSOLUTELY RIGHT 11451
22 EXTREMELY GOOD 11446
23 EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE 11347
PELIC STUDENT: Arabic,Male,5,w
Third, exercise can be an extremely effective stress reliever for several reasons.
24 ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL 11339 25 EXTREMELY PROUD 10947
26 INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT 10482
27 ABSOLUTELY STUNNING 10442
It has absolutely stunning jewellery, like what you can see here.
28 EXTREMELY VALUABLE 10347 29 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS 10344 30 ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC 9978 31 ABSOLUTELY FREE 9863 32 EXTREMELY PLEASED 9858 33 TOTALLY FREE 9857 34 ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS 9094 35 INCREDIBLY POWERFUL 9036 36 ABSOLUTELY SURE 8939 37 EXTREMELY COMFORTABLE 8912 38 EXTREMELY STRONG 8875 39 ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS 8776 40 EXTREMELY SMALL 8365 41 INCREDIBLY USEFUL 8310 42 EXTREMELY DURABLE 8148 43 EXTREMELY LARGE 7800 44 EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE 7382 45 EXTREMELY HOT 7209 46 ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL 7171 47 TOTALLY FINE 7112 48 EXTREMELY SIMPLE 7011 49 EXTREMELY VERSATILE 6938 50 INCREDIBLY HARD 6675
51 EXTREMELY SENSITIVE 6557
52 INCREDIBLY POPULAR 6500 53 INCREDIBLY HELPFUL 6401 54 EXTREMELY FAST 6314 55 EXTREMELY LONG 6218 56 INCREDIBLY HIGH 6137 57 EXTREMELY GRATEFUL 6078
58 EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL 6064
59 INCREDIBLY STRONG 6048 60 EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL 5977 61 EXTREMELY COMMON 5906 62 ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT 5892
63 EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE 5823
64 TOTALLY WRONG 5774 65 ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN 5764 66 EXTREMELY UNLIKELY 5719 67 ABSOLUTELY CORRECT 5597
68 ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL 5589
69 INCREDIBLY SIMPLE 5534 70 EXTREMELY EXCITED 5308 71 TOTALLY AWESOME 5286 72 INCREDIBLY TALENTED 5280 73 ABSOLUTELY TRUE 5225 74 EXTREMELY BUSY 5204 75 EXTREMELY TALENTED 5173 76 ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE 5158
77 EXTREMELY COMPLEX 5016
78 TOTALLY UNIQUE 4995 79 INCREDIBLY PROUD 4949 80 EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE 4852 81 EXTREMELY FRIENDLY 4834 82 EXTREMELY COLD 4656 83 EXTREMELY POOR 4601 84 ABSOLUTELY FINE 4595 85 EXTREMELY EFFICIENT 4494 86 EXTREMELY PAINFUL 4489 87 TOTALLY NORMAL 4425 88 INCREDIBLY VERSATILE 4291 89 INCREDIBLY LOW 4230 90 ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED 4185 91 EXTREMELY CAREFUL 4145 92 INCREDIBLY VALUABLE 4141 93 EXTREMELY INTERESTING 4117 94 EXTREMELY LIGHT 4084 95 EXTREMELY ACCURATE 4073
96 EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE 4068
97 INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL 4032 98 EXTREMELY POSITIVE 3931 99 EXTREMELY SLOW 3900
100 INCREDIBLY GOOD 3868
B2 vocabulary:
beneficial, competitive, complex, critical, effective, flexible, sensitive, stunning, unique