Sep 21, 2026 · 8 min · 11 segments
Terrified', 'fantastic', 'amazing' - learn how to use strong adjectives. Find Learning English Grammar…
[Upbeat music] So the meal didn't go too well.
Tom and Jenny had to wait a long time for their food, nearly an hour.
What do you think about that, Catherine?
Uh, I wouldn't last that long.
20 minutes, and I'd be gone.
Well, luckily, they liked the film.
Listen to this clip.
I thought it was quite funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious.
Tom said he thought the film was quite funny.
Quite funny.
Now, when we use an ordinary adjective like funny, we can add a word like quite or very or just a little bit to give more information about the adjective.
So we can say the film was quite funny or very funny or just a little bit funny.
These words are called intensifiers, and they're quite useful.
They're very useful, actually.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
So Tom thought the film was funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious, and the word hilarious means very, very funny.
Mm.
Hilarious is a special kind of adjective.
It already includes the idea of very.
Right.
And we call this type of adjective a strong adjective, and there are lots of them.
For example, to mean very good, we can say...
Wonderful, fabulous, amazing.
Thank you, Rob.
[Upbeat music] So the meal didn't go too well.
Tom and Jenny had to wait a long time for their food, nearly an hour.
What do you think about that, Catherine?
Uh, I wouldn't last that long.
20 minutes, and I'd be gone.
Well, luckily, they liked the film.
Listen to this clip.
I thought it was quite funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious.
Tom said he thought the film was quite funny.
Quite funny.
Now, when we use an ordinary adjective like funny, we can add a word like quite or very or just a little bit to give more information about the adjective.
So we can say the film was quite funny or very funny or just a little bit funny.
These words are called intensifiers, and they're quite useful.
They're very useful, actually.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
So Tom thought the film was funny, but Jenny thought it was hilarious, and the word hilarious means very, very funny.
Mm.
Hilarious is a special kind of adjective.
It already includes the idea of very.
Right.
And we call this type of adjective a strong adjective, and there are lots of them.
For example, to mean very good, we can say...
Wonderful, fabulous, amazing.
Thank you, Rob.
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3 of 3
Why Hilarious Needs No Very
Here’s why some adjectives already contain intensity.
The Intensifier Rule
The right intensifier depends on adjective strength.
A Better Way to Remember Words
A memory trick can improve vocabulary retention.
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