Gradable and strong adjectives

[ROBINDESBOIS]

The other day I was looking at a section of grammar in a texbook , to be precise I was reading about gradable and strong adjectives
eg.:
tired
exhausted
very tired but not very exhausted
extremily tired but not extremily exhausted.
I would swear that I have heard some people saying I´m extremely exhausted.
Can anybody illustrate me on this point a little bit more.
Thanks.

[Perikles]

It's true that some adjectives are not gradable, because they represent an extreme. If you imagine an adjective as a line from zero to extreme, you can say fairly tired, very tired, extremely tired, somewhere on this line. But some adjectives represent a point on that line, usually an end point. Exhausted is the end point on the tired line, so it makes no sense to grade it. Similarly, cold, very cold, freezing. Freezing is an end-point, so you can't have very freezing (this is grammar, not physics, here).

There are of course some grey areas. You can't grade male or female because you are either the one or the other (again, grammar ). However, modern usage has expressions like very female in a very female reaction, where feminine should be used.

Also, so ungradable adjectives are sometimes graded for effect. Dead is ungradable, because you are either dead or not. But there are times when you can break the rule for effect:

My dog is dead. My dog is fairly dead.
I saw a hedgehog on the road, and it looked very dead (i.e. completely flattened).



See here.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Then, why do people say extremely exhausted?

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

Then, why do people say extremely exhausted?

¿Por desesperación?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

Then, why do people say extremely exhausted?

Because not many people speak good English.

[poli]

As Perikles alluded, combining a grading adjective with and absolute noun sometimes creates an ironic feel for people with very good command of the language, and a dull sound for those who don't (as in very exhausted).

The adjective quite when it means very is often used (as in quite dead) especially among British people.

If you are learning the language, it may be best to be aware of this phenomon but to avoid it. Incorrect use sounds at best ignorant and at worst incomprehensible.

I have heard the same use of gradable adjectives combined with ungradable nouns in Spanish too.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

MORAL
If people use them time after time, it can´t be that wrong.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

MORAL
If people use them time after time, it can´t be that wrong.

OR you are mixing with the wrong people.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Hahahhahhaha