What are Adverbs of Degree?

Adverbs of Degree

Before defining Adverbs of Degree, it is important to understand the meaning of the word “degree”.

According to The Oxford Dictionary, degree refers to the amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present.

For example, consider the word “level”:

• In school, there are different grade levels — 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.
• There are also degrees measured by Celsius, Fahrenheit, Joules, and more.

In English grammar, Adverbs of Degree indicate the intensity, degree, or extent of the verb, adjective, or adverb they modify. They typically appear before the adjective, verb, or another adverb they describe.

Some common adverbs of degree include:

really, quite, absolutely, utterly, fully, a bit, unusually, slightly, fairly, etc.

When these adverbs modify adjectives, they are placed before the adjective.

Examples:

"This box is absolutely tiny."

The word “tiny” is an adjective describing the box. The adverb “absolutely” modifies “tiny”, telling us how tiny the box is. It can also mean extremely tiny.

"The exam was extremely difficult."

The adjective “difficult” describes the exam. The adverb “extremely” modifies “difficult”, telling us how difficult the exam was.