Adverbs of degree

6.45 When you want to give more information about the extent of an action or the degree to which an action is performed, you often use an adverb of degree.

I enjoyed the course immensely.

I had almost forgotten about the trip.

Overall, the operation had gone very well.

6.46 Here is a list of adverbs of degree:

absolutely adequately almost altogether amazingly awfully badly completely considerably dearly deeply drastically dreadfully enormously entirety exceedingly excessively extensively

extraordinarily extremely fairly fantastically fully greatly half hard hugely immensely incredibly intensely just largely moderately nearly noticeably outright

partly perfectly poorly positively powerfully practically pretty profoundly purely quite radically rather really reasonably remarkably significantly simply slightly

somewhat soundly strongly sufficiently supremely surprisingly suspiciously terribly totally tremendously truly unbelievably utterly very virtually well wonderfully

from adjectives 6.47 Adverbs of degree are often formed from adjectives by adding '-ly'. Some are formed from qualitative adjectives, for example 'deeply', 'hugely', and 'strongly', and some from classifying adjectives, for example 'absolutely', 'perfectly', and 'utterly'.

A few adverbs of degree are formed from postdeterminers, such as 'entirely'.

See Chapter 2 for more information about types of adjectives.

position in clause 6.48 You can use adverbs of degree in the usual position for adjuncts.

I admired him greatly.

I greatly enjoyed working with them.

Protesters say that tunnels could greatly reduce the environmental disturbance.

However, you rarely use an adverb of degree at the beginning of a clause. For example, you do not usually say 'Greatly I admired him'. For more information about placing adverbs at the beginning of a clause, see paragraph 10.93.

A few adverbs of degree are nearly always used in front of the main verb:

almost

largely

nearly

really

virtually

For example, you usually say 'He almost got there', not 'He got there almost'.

The president of the European Commission largely ignored the British conditions.

He really enjoyed talking about flying.

The result virtually ensures Scotland's place in the finals.

Some adverbs of degree are almost always used after the main verb:

altogether enormously

hard outright

somewhat tremendously

well

This was a different level of communication altogether.

Mr Botha exaggerated somewhat in comparing the incursion with Hitler's invasion of Poland.

Spear says she admires Lloyd's tremendously.

6.49 A group of adverbs of degree are called emphasizing adverbs. These are formed from emphasizing adjectives (see paragraph 2.40).

absolutely completely entirely

just outright perfectly

positively purely quite

really simply totally

truly utterty

Note that the emphasizing adverb 'outright' has the same form as an adjective, an adverb of manner, and an adverb of degree.

6.50 You use an emphasizing adverb such as 'absolutely', 'just', 'quite', or 'simply' to add emphasis to the action described by a verb. Emphasizing adverbs usually come in front of verbs.

I quite agree.

I absolutely agree.

I just know I'm going to be late.

I simply adore this flat.

In a verb group, the emphasizing adverb comes after the auxiliary or modal and in front of the verb.

Someone had simply appeared.

I was absolutely amazed.

However, 'absolutely' can occasionally be used after verbs as well.

I agree absolutely with what Geoffrey has said.

For other uses of emphasizing adverbs, see paragraphs 10.85 to 10.86.

6.51 You can use some adverbs of degree in front of other adverbs. When adverbs of degree are used like this they are called submodifiers.

They can also be used as submodifiers in front of adjectives; this use is explained in paragraphs 2.145 to 2.173, where lists of submodifiers and their meanings are also given.

He prepared his speech very carefully.

He was having to work awfully hard.

Things changed really dramatically.

We get on extremely well with our neighbours.

We were able to hear everything pretty clearly.

The paper disintegrated fairly easily.

He dressed rather formally.

Every child reacts somewhat differently.

Note that 'moderately' and 'reasonably' are mainly used in front of adverbs which do not end in '-ly'.

He works reasonably hard.

A few adverbs of degree can be used as submodifiers with comparatives: see the section beginning at paragraph 2.162.

This could all be done very much more quickly.

I thanked him again, even more profusely than before.

I hope you can see slightly more clearly what is going on.

Note that 'still' can also be placed after the comparative.

They're doing better in some respects now. Of course they've got to do better still.

other adverbs of degree 6.52 There are some special adverbs of degree. These include 'much', which can be used as an adverb of degree in negative clauses, and in reported questions after 'how'.

Programs and program efficiency have not developed much.

These definitions do not help much.

They told the farmer how much they wanted to get the harvest in.

She had observed how much they disliked her.

'Very much' is also used in a similar way.

She is charming. We like her very much.

The comparative adverbs 'better' and 'worse' and the superlative adverbs 'best' and 'worst' can also be adverbs of degree.

You know him better than anyone else.

It is the land itself which suffers worst.

'More' and 'less' can be used as comparative adverbs of degree.

Her tears frightened him more than anything that had ever happened to him before.

The ground heats up less there.

'Most' and 'least' can be used as superlative adverbs of degree.

She gave me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do most.

They staged some of his least known operas.

Comparative adverbs and superlative adverbs are explained in the section beginning at paragraph 6.30.

The noun groups 'a bit', 'a great deal', 'a little', and 'a lot' are also used as adverbs of degree.

I don't like this a bit.

The situation's changed a great deal since then.