Answer — Exercise 7
6 - Going places·Outcomes Upper-Intermediate - Student's Book
Pregunta
Read the Grammar box, then look at the corrections of common mistakes below. Work in pairs. Discuss why you think the original sentences were wrong.
Respuesta
- We don’t use very with extreme / ungradable adjectives like soaked, which already means ‘very, very wet’. Other adjectives that you can’t use very with include boiling, delicious, filthy, freezing, fantastic, terrible, etc.
- We don’t use absolutely with normal adjectives – only with extreme / ungradable adjectives like those mentioned above.
- We use too to show something is negative – it was too cold to sit outside; it’s too spicy for me, I can’t eat it, etc. To make extreme / ungradable adjectives like incredible stronger, use really or absolutely.
- If you want to make a positive adjective negative, use the pattern a bit too ... for my liking, e.g. It’s a bit too spicy for my liking; I just find him a bit too nice for my liking. If you use quite, it means more than 'a bit', less than 'a lot', e.g. It’s quite hot today, isn’t it?
- We don’t use a bit with positive adjectives like nice. We only use it to soften negative adjectives.
- To modify nouns, use a complete (or a bit of / a total / a real, etc.). Completely is usually used with adjectives instead, e.g. It was completely different to what I expected. It’s completely wrong.)
- We use a bit before negative adjectives. To soften a negative noun, use a bit of ...
- We use hardly before verbs – I could hardly breathe; I can hardly talk. To express the idea of ‘almost none’, use hardly any before a noun. There were hardly any people there; I spent hardly any money, etc.
- We use almost with nothing, no, etc.