| 词组 | intensifiers |
| 释义 | intensifiers A recent correspondent of ours was curious to know what an intensifier is—a new part of speech? she asked. Not really a new part of speech. An intensifier—or intensive, as it is also called—is a linguistic element used to give emphasis or additional strength to another word or a statement. Intensifiers come from several parts of speech and other grammatical categories. Our correspondent sent us a couple of nouns: • Where the dickens have you been? What the hell are you doing? Adverbs are the largest class: • a very hot day it was so sweet of you a mighty fine time You know that full well. a really big show awfully bad weather wet clear through Adjectives are used too: • you bloody idiot It's a complete lie. utter nonsense And participles: stark raving mad a blooming fool And pronouns: • She herself did it. Borrowing is itself a bad habit. Prepositional phrases can serve as intensifiers: • Where in heaven's name have you been? What in the world does he think he's doing? Good and and nice and are also used: • When I'm good and ready. It's nice and warm here. Intensifiers are a frequent bone of contention in usage books. Since they very often indicate a conversational style, many handbooks discourage their use. And there are long-standing disputes about the propriety of adjectives and flat adverbs in intensive function. Historical observers like Lamberts 1972 and Strang 1970 note that the words used as intensifiers have tended to change over the years. Such intensifiers as sore, wondrous, plaguey, powerful, devilish, prodigious, which were formerly quite common, are little used nowadays. Those that survive from older use are often objects of dispute. |
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