Intensifiers

 INTENSIFIERS 

An intensifier is a word that strengthens or weakens another word (usually the word immediately to its right). An intensifier has no real meaning by itself and can usually be removed from the sentence. Intensifiers are adverbs.
The most common intensifiers are "very," "extremely," and "incredibly." The sole purpose of an intensifier is to tell us about the intensity of another word.

Examples 

Here are some examples of intensifiers (shaded) in sentences:

• This pie isvery tasty.
(In this example, the intensifier "very" strengthens the adjective "tasty." Of note, "very" is the most common intensifier in English.)
• The delegation is very late.
• Last week's test was really easy.
• Last week's test was incredibly easy.
• Last week's test was insanely easy.

Negative-sounding Intensifiers Provide Strength

Oddly, negative-sounding words such as "awfully," "dreadfully," "insanely," and "terribly" provide strength to the words they modify. For example:

• You look awfully pale.
• I am dreadfully sorry.
• That is an insanely clever plan.
• The pressure is dropping terribly quickly.