GRADABLE AND

NON-GRADABLE
(absolute/extreme)
ADJECTIVES
 GRADABLE ADJECTIVES
Have a range. We can have different levels
of that quality.
For instance:
Angry, big, boring, old, small, beautiful, good,
bad, embarrassed, cheap, cold, hot, funny,
tasty, tired, expensive, pretty, interesting,
difficult, attractive, ugly, shy, large, sick, etc.
Modifiers used with those adjectives:
A little, a bit, pretty, quite, very, really,
extremely, fairly, slightly, rather
NON-GRADABLE / ABSOLUTE ADJECTIVES /
EXTREME ADJECTIVES
No range, because they describe absolute qualities
For instance:
Excellent, huge, impossible, enormous, exhausted,
freezing, wonderful, destroyed, finished, dead, tiny,
boiling, terrible, fascinating, fantastic, marvelous, ruin,
perfect, delicious, hilarious, awful, etc.
Modifiers used with those adjectives:
Absolutely, totally, completely, utterly, really
GRADABLE
Examples
NON-GRADABLE
Examples
 Class activity
• 1. It’s ____ cold today so don’t forget your scarf.
• 2. I thought that TV program was ______ fantastic.
• 3. I felt _____ exhausted after the gym session
• 4. My sister is _____ certain that she wants to be a teacher.
• 5. I think books about real-life adventures are ____ amazing.
• 6. I was ____ surprised when he told me the news.
• 7. The food in England is ____ tasty.
• 8. They were ____ scared of the barking dog.