It sounds strange to say ‘very huge’, or ‘a bit amazing’ or ‘a little wonderful’. This is because some extreme adjectives like to collocate with particular adverbs.
On this podcast, you’ll learn some gradable and ungradable adjectives and the adverbs that go, or maybe don’t usually go, with them.

Voice message from Alex from Segovia

Online grammar and spelling checkers (Grammarly, ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot)

Gradable and Ungradable Adjectives

What are adjectives? We use adjectives to describe things. They can be used to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to something else.

I live in an old flat.
It’s not very modern.

Some adjectives have a meaning which is extreme or absolute and cannot easily be made stronger or weaker. These are called ‘ungradable adjectives’.

We’ve spoken a little bit about extreme, ungradable or strong adjectives before: https://www.inglespodcast.com/76

Adjectives can be modified, or graded, by using words like ‘very’, ‘more’, less’, ‘extremely’, etc. and by the endings -er and -est.

For example, My flat is big. Reza’s flat is bigger.
My flat’s nice. Craig’s flat is very nice.

The weather can be a little/a bit hot, rather/quite hot, very/really hot or extremely/incredibly hot.

We can also use an ungradable or extreme adjective to express how extreme something is. Extreme adjectives can only be graded with some extreme adverbs like absolutely, totally and completely :

The UK is very cold in January.
In fact, it’s often freezing. (freezing is extreme/ungradable). To add extra emphasis, we can say absolutely freezing, but we CAN’T use very/slightly/a little + freezing.
Very/slightly/a little are adverbs that can only go with gradable adjectives – adjectives that can be graded from a little to a lot, including also somewhere in the middle.

Now it’s your turn to practise!

We’ll say some examples using a gradable adjective (like very cold) You should try to say the extreme adjective, if you know it, before you hear it. Firstly, identify the gradable adjective and then guess a suitable ungradable adjective.
You can also pause the audio and repeat after us to practise pronunciation.

You look tired. – Actually, I’m ….EXHAUSTED.

Have you noticed that as you get older the text and instructions on products gets smaller and smaller every year. It’s so…..TINY

If I were you, I wouldn’t go to the central market on Friday morning. It’s very crowded. In fact, it’s usually….. PACKED

The beach in Valencia is about 5 kilometres long. It’s very big. It’s ……HUGE, ENORMOUS, MASSIVE, VAST, etc.

I’m always amazed how very clean Reza’s flat is whenever I go there to record a podcast. It’s… SPOTLESS

I was very angry when Jonny ate the last chocolate biscuit. Nevertheless, I hid my anger well. He had no idea how…… FURIOUS I was.

My desk is very dirty. It’s absolutely…..FILTHY

Don’t bother watching the latest Sylvester Stallone film. It’s really bad. That’s not only my opinion, all the reviews say how ….AWFUL, TERRIBLE, DREADFUL, WOEFUL it is.

One of my students told me that our podcast is good. In fact, the word they used was more than that, they said it was…..WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, EXCELLENT, SUPERB, OUTSTANDING!

The thing I remember most about New York is the big skyscrapers. They are ……HUGE, GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS

John Cleese is a funny man and the Monty Python films that he appeared in are …….HILARIOUS

The recent advances in Artificial Intelligence is are both very interesting and quite scary. More than that, I’d say it was both …..FASCINATING and TERRIFYING

Do you think Anne Hathaway is quite pretty as Catwoman in Batman?
I think she’s ……..GORGEOUS, STUNNING, BEAUTIFUL

Shall we have something to eat after recording this podcast? I’m feeling a bit hungry.
Yes, I’m absolutely …..STARVING!

To summarise

Gradable Adjectives: Most adjectives fall into this category. They can have different levels of intensity. For instance, you can be a bit cold, very cold, or extremely cold.

Modifiers that make gradable adjectives weaker or stronger include:
a little/a bit/slightly
pretty/quite/reasonably
really* – can also go with non-gradable adjectives
very
extremely/incredibly/amazingly/

Examples of gradable adjectives: angry, big, boring, cheap, cold, expensive, frightening, funny, hot, interesting, old, pretty, small, tasty, tired, etc.

Non-gradable/extreme Adjectives:
These adjectives describe absolute qualities that cannot be graded. For example, something can’t be “a bit finished” or “very finished.”
To emphasize non-gradable/extreme adjectives, we use modifiers like:
absolutely
totally
completely
utterly
really* – can also go with gradable adjectives

Examples of non-gradable adjectives: acceptable, dead, destroyed, finished, free, impossible, necessary, perfect, ruined, unacceptable, unbeatable, etc.
Adjectives like “amazing,” “awful,” and “boiling” are inherently strong or extreme adjectives

Examples of extreme adjectives: amazing, awful, boiling, astonishing, breathtaking, wonderful, dumbfounded, speechless, devastated, etc.

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English. What do you think of this podcast episode? Use some adjectives and let us know. Was it extremely bad or absolutely awful? Please be kind!

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Send us an email with a comment or question to craig@inglespodcast.com or belfastreza@gmail.com

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The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’