我们在表达“非常”的时候，常常使用“very”这个单词，造成这个词的使用频率非常高。如以下的错误例子，
- I very like foodball.
- This food is very delicious.
究其原因，想必是中文表达中习惯于在形容词前加“很”或者“非常”来强调和加强相关程度，所以我们会习惯性地用在英语表达中。为了消除该弊病，我们必须学会正确使用其他强度修饰语来替换“very”，例如“really”。请看下面例句：
CHINGLISH: I very like your friend in the mini-skirt.
ENGLISH: I really like your friend in the mini-skirt.
CHINGLISH: This fried snake is very delicious.
ENGLISH: This fried snake is really delicious.
CHINGLISH: We had very good fun at the disco on Saturday.
ENGLISH: We had really good fun at the disco on Saturday.
CHINGLISH: That film was very amazing.
ENGLISH: That film was really amazing.
CHINGLISH: This beer tastes very awful.
ENGLISH: This beer tastes really awful.
CHINGLISH: The poverty and fighting in Africa is very terrible.
ENGLISH: The poverty and fighting in Africa is really terrible.
从以上例子中，我们不难看出，当与“like”、“fun”、“delicious”、“amazing”、“awful”和“terrible”使用时，不能使用“very”，可以使用“really”。当然也可以使用其他强度修饰语来替换“very”。下面列出其中一些，并通过例句说明其用法。
一般来说，这类词可以根据语体（正式/非正式）和语气（强/弱）分成不同组别，详见下表，
| 语体\语气 | 强 | 弱 |
|---|---|---|
| 正式 | awful,terribly | rather |
| 一般 | extremely,very,really, completely,literally,deadly | quite |
| 非正式 | real,wildly,totally,way,just,plumb,plenty | fairly,pretty,kind of |
以上词语，应尽量避免使用“正式”分组中的词语，因为这些词语很容易让人听起来觉得说话人自负无礼。“一般”分组中的词语，语气强只能用于表达强烈的感情，例如：
- Professor Chen offered an extremely fine course that the students really appreciated.
- Be careful when eating Sichuan dishes, they eat sometimes be extremely hot.
- I feel that western politicians' meddling in Asian internal affairs is completely wrong.
- It was literally their last chance.
其中最后一个词“deadly”通常只与“dull”、“boring”等搭配，例如： - I found the whole thing deadly dull.
- The new teacher's lectures were deadly boring.
至于语气强烈的非正式用语，许多人认为属于不规范的英语或俚语。如果你常看美国电影，这些词想必你会碰到。下面的例句说明这些词的用法：
- He took me for dinner, then dancing and was real charming all night.
- He was plumb tuckered out. (He was exhausted.)
- She was plenty angry.
- They were greatly amused.
- They were wildly excited.
下面例句中所用的表达方式一般只有西方年轻人使用，建议初学者不要使用，否则，说出来的话显得不伦不类，暂时只需记住这些表达方式的意思就可以了：
- The way that he was surfing was totally unbelievable(very,very good).
- The new game that I have bought for my computer is totally awesome(very, very good).
- Your new hairstyle is way cool(very fashionable).
- Those new jeans of yours are way fine.
- The movie that we saw last night was just amazing.
- The Full Monty was a much better movie than Titanic. It was just hilarious.
这些词尽管被称为强度修饰词，但有时也用于弱化其后的名词或者形容词语气。下面例句可以说明这一点： - This fish is rather tasty, but not half as good as that salmon that we had last week.
- My exam results were fairly good but not as good as I expected.
- I am pretty good at chess but I am not brilliant.
- He was pretty close to the end.
- My girlfriend may not be Gong Li or Maggie Cheung but she is kind of beautiful, in a traditional Chinese way.
- My new boyfriend may not be Tom Cruise but he sure is kind of handsome.
quite在美国英语中，是一个用作加强语气的词语，而在英国英语中弱化语气的作用。
- She is quite pretty(American English = extremely pretty).
- She is quite pretty(British English = fairly pretty).
