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Unit 19
Emotive & Evaluative Language
expressing attitude & emphasis
What is Emotive Language?
Emotive language expresses personal feelings; evaluative language expresses opinions or judgements. Together they transform neutral statements into expressive, persuasive, and natural communication — vital in essays, speeches, letters, and reviews.
Structure 1 — It + Be + Adjective + That-Clause
Used to comment on situations, actions, or ideas.
| Category | Adjectives + that | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | wonderful, fantastic, great, brilliant | It's wonderful that you called. |
| Negative | terrible, sad, shocking, a shame | It's a shame that he missed it. |
| Neutral/evaluative | clear, possible, likely, obvious | It's clear that they're upset. |
| Necessity | vital, essential, crucial, important | It's vital that we act now. |
Structure 2 — I'm + Adjective + That-Clause
Used to show personal feelings about a situation.
| Emotion | Adjectives | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Joy / Relief | delighted, glad, thrilled, relieved | I'm thrilled that you came. |
| Worry / Fear | afraid, worried, anxious, concerned | I'm worried that we'll be late. |
| Surprise / Shock | surprised, amazed, astonished, shocked | I'm amazed that she refused. |
| Disappointment | sorry, upset, disappointed, frustrated | I'm disappointed that you couldn't attend. |
Structure 3 — Emotive Adverbs & Intensifiers
Adverbs and intensifiers add emotional weight to statements.
- I absolutely love your writing.
- It was completely unacceptable.
- She worked incredibly hard.
- The results were truly remarkable.
- Common intensifiers: absolutely, completely, deeply, entirely, extremely, highly, incredibly, particularly, truly, utterly
Structure 4 — Evaluative Nouns & Phrases
Nouns that carry an emotional or evaluative charge:
- It's a shame/pity that he didn't come.
- What a relief that they arrived safely!
- It's a scandal that nothing was done.
- What a coincidence that we met here!
Gradable vs Extreme Adjectives
Very / extremely go with normal (gradable) adjectives. Absolutely / utterly / completely go with extreme (non-gradable) adjectives. Really works with both:
| Gradable (very, extremely) | Extreme (absolutely, utterly) | ❌ Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| very good | absolutely amazing / fantastic | very fantastic · absolutely good |
| very tired | absolutely exhausted | very exhausted |
| very bad | absolutely terrible / awful | absolutely bad |
| very surprised | utterly astonished | very astonished |
| very cold / hungry | absolutely freezing / starving | very freezing |
Strong Collocations
- bitterly disappointed · deeply moved / grateful · highly unlikely / recommended
- utterly ridiculous · painfully slow · perfectly clear / normal
- such + (a) + adjective + noun: It was such a beautiful day! · so + adjective: The day was so beautiful!
Common Mistakes
It's shame that he left.
→
It's a shame that he left.
Needs the article: a shame.
I'm very delight to meet you.
→
I'm delighted to meet you.
"Delighted" is an adjective — no "very delight".
It's absolutely clear the answer.
→
It's absolutely clear what the answer is.
Need a clause or noun phrase after "clear".
She is deeply interesting in art.
→
She is deeply interested in art.
"Interested" (past participle) for personal feelings.
What a wonderful that she passed!
→
It's wonderful that she passed! / What a result!
"What a" is followed by a noun, not a clause.
The view was very amazing.
→
The view was absolutely amazing.
Extreme adjective → absolutely (or really).