In grammar, an intensive word form is one which denotes stronger, more forceful, or more concentrated action relative to the root on which the intensive is built. Intensives are usually lexical formations, but there may be a regular process for forming intensives from a root. Intensive formations, for example, existed in

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

, and in many of the

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

Morphological devices

Certain prefixes and suffixes may be used as intensifiers. English language: "preeminent" (pre+eminent) or Latin language: ''excellentissimus'' ('' excellens'' + -issimus)

Grammatical categories

Intensives generally function as adverbs before the word or phrase that they modify. For example, ''bloody well,'' as in "I will ''bloody well'' do it," is a commonly used intensive adverb in Great Britain. Intensives also can function as

postpositive adjective A postpositive adjective or postnominal adjective is an adjective that is placed after the noun or pronoun that it modifies, as in noun phrases such as '' attorney general'', '' queen regnant'', or ''all matters financial''. This contrasts with pr ...

s. An example in American English today is ''"the heck"'', e.g. "What ''the heck'' is going on here?" All intensives are expletives that can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence albeit with less intensity. Many modern-day intensives are generally considered vulgar or otherwise inappropriate in polite conversation, such as ''"the hell"'' or ''"the fuck"''. In the mid-19th century, ''"in tarnation"'' was common. Polite alternatives include ''on earth'' or ''in heaven's name''.

Examples of intensifiers across languages

In American English, the usage of ''"this/that"'' has become common in intensive form. The usage of ''"this/that"'' as intensifiers can be compared to the intensifier ''"so",'' since they all belong in the booster category of intensifiers, that is, intensifiers used to describe a high claim of intensity. An example sentence of this would be, ''"I shouldn't be this tired."'' which carries similar intensity as the sentence, ''"I am so tired.".''

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

uses intensifiers to show distinction between the ''pi`el'' (intensive) and ''hiph`il'' (causative) binyans.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

had verbal prefixes ''e-'' and ''per-'' that could be more or less freely added onto any verb and variously added such meanings as "''To put a great deal of effort into doing something".''{{Cite web, url=https://catalog.hardydiagnostics.com/cp_prod/Content/hugo/Greek_LatinPrefixes.htm, title=Greek and Latin Prefixes, website=catalog.hardydiagnostics.com, access-date=2019-12-10 For example, "''ructa"'' (burp) compared to "''eructa"'' (belch). When the same prefixes, especially ''per'', were added to adjectives, the resulting meaning was ''very X'' or ''extremely X''.

References

Grammar Verb types