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INTENSIFIERS |
People are always looking for ways to emphasize how really, really
special the subject under discussion is. (The use of “really” is one of
the weakest and least effective of these.) A host of words have been worn
down in this service to near-meaninglessness. It is good to remember the
etymological roots of such words to avoid such absurdities as
"fantastically realistic,” “absolutely relative,” and “incredibly
convincing.” When you are tempted to use one of these vague intensifiers
consider rewriting your prose to explain more precisely and vividly what
you mean: “Fred’s cooking was incredibly bad” could be changed to “When
I tasted Fred’s cooking I almost thought I was back in the middle-school
cafeteria.”
See also “Incredible”
