Intensifiers and Mitigators ESL Activities, Worksheets and Games
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Activity - Speaking: Rating, Sentence Completion, Guided Discussion, Freer Practice - Pair and Group work - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 35 minutes
In this intensifiers and mitigators activity, students practice intensifiers and mitigators by grading and discussing romantic situations. The students read through the romantic situations on the worksheet and grade each one (1 to 5), according to how romantic they think it is (five is extremely romantic and one is not at all romantic). Students write their answers in the column marked 'You'. In pairs, students then discuss how romantic they think the situations are and mark their partner's grades on the worksheet. Afterwards, students give feedback on the romantic situations they agreed on and didn't agree on. Next, each pair joins with another pair to form a group of four. The students collaborate to come up with a new extremely romantic situation that they all agree on. Finally, the groups tell the class their extremely romantic situations. The other groups grade each one (1 to 5) and give feedback using intensifiers and mitigators.
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Game - Vocabulary: Guessing, Forming Sentences - Pair work - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 30 minutes
In this fun intensifiers and mitigators game, students guess what two things have in common using adjectives and adverbs of degree. Students begin by writing two things that match each description on their worksheet. For example, if the prompt read 'Two things that are extremely expensive', the student might write 'a Rolex watch' and 'a Ferrari'. In pairs, students then take it in turns to say just the two things they wrote for each description, e.g. 'a Rolex watch and a Ferrari'. Their partner then has five guesses to say what the two things have in common using the correct adjective and adverb of degree shown on their worksheet, e.g. 'They are two things that are very expensive'. If their partner guesses successfully, the student puts a tick next to the item. The student with the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins.
ESL Intensifiers Worksheet - Reading and Writing Exercises - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes
In this free intensifiers worksheet, students identify intensifiers and use them to modify language and write about extreme sports. Working alone, students begin by reading a text about extreme sports and underlining all the intensifiers. Students then write down the intensifiers they found in the text. After that, students use their own ideas to complete sentences about extreme sports with an intensifier and an adjective. Students then move on to complete sentences by adding an intensifier with an adverb. Next, students rewrite sentences adding in an intensifier to modify an underlined word. In the last exercise, students complete sentences with a sport that fits the description in each sentence.
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Board Game - Miming and Speaking Activity - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes
In this intensifiers and mitigators board game, students use intensifiers, mitigators and adjectives to guess how exactly other students are feeling from mimes. The first player picks up a card and mimes the feeling on the card to the degree modified by the intensifier or mitigator. The other players then have one minute to guess how the person is feeling from the mime. The first player to say the sentence written on the card wins, e.g. 'You are completely exhausted'. The winner then rolls the dice and moves their counter along the board accordingly. It's then the next player's turn to pick up a card. The first player to reach the finish wins the game.
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Worksheet - Grammar and Vocabulary Exercises: Rewriting Sentences, Sentence Completion, Identifying - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes
This intensifiers and mitigators worksheet helps students learn and practice how to emphasize words and expressions to make them weaker or stronger. Students begin by ordering intensifiers and mitigators 1 to 12, 1 being the weakest emphasis and 12 being the strongest emphasis. Next, students do a multiple-choice gap-fill exercise where they complete sentences with the most suitable intensifier or mitigator. Students then reorder words to make sentences with intensifiers and mitigators. After that, students use their own ideas to complete sentences with an intensifier or mitigator and an adjective. Finally, students take it in turns to ask 'What do you think about...?' questions with a partner to find out their answers from the previous exercise.
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Worksheet - Grammar and Vocabulary Exercises: Rewriting Sentences, Sentence Completion, Identifying - Intermediate (B1) - 30 minutes
This intensifiers and mitigators worksheet uses the context of weather to help students learn how to make words and expressions sound stronger or weaker using intensifiers and mitigators. First, students rewrite sentences, adding intensifiers and mitigators in the correct position to modify weather adjectives. After that, students choose intensifiers or mitigators and adjectives to help complete a set of sentences. The students then finish each sentence with an explanation. In the last exercise, students read a text about a day spent at the beach and underline the intensifiers and circle the mitigators. Afterwards, make half the students 'intensifiers' and the other half 'mitigators'. Read the text aloud to the class. When you come to an intensifier or mitigator, the students assigned to that role read out the word.
ESL Intensifiers and Mitigators Activity - Grammar Exercises: Categorising, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion - Speaking Activity: Forming Sentences from Prompts, Discussion - Group work - Intermediate (B1) - 40 minutes
In this intensifiers and mitigators activity, students complete a worksheet and take part in a discussion where they modify comparative sentences about the past and present to make them stronger or weaker. First, students put intensifiers and mitigators into their correct category. After that, students complete sentences with suitable intensifiers or mitigators. Students then use their own ideas to complete sentences about the past and present with a noun and the correct form of the verb to be. Next, in pairs, students take part in a discussion activity using cards. Students take it in turns to turn over a card and make a statement, expressing their opinion on the subject presented. They do this by creating a comparative sentence with the adjective provided along with an intensifier or mitigator to modify the comparison, e.g. 'In my opinion, modern cars are significantly more comfortable than cars made in the 90's.' The other student then agrees or disagrees with their partner's statement and the two students briefly discuss the topic. This process continues until all the cards have been used. Afterwards, there is a class feedback session to find out which topics caused the most debate.
