Level 1 — Foundation · Sentence Accuracy
Task 9: Describing With Precise Degree and Certainty
Write descriptions that use adverbs of degree and certainty on purpose — extremely, relatively, probably — so your own writing carries exactly the strength of claim you intend, the way Lesson 9 teaches you to read an author's.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Use am/is/are plus an adjective to describe something, with a degree adverb attached
- Write one sentence with a certainty adverb (probably, certainly) that matches how sure you actually are
- Avoid overstating a claim by choosing a degree word that fits the real strength of your evidence
Introduction
So far, most sentences in this module described an action — what someone does. Description is different: it says what someone or something is, and how strongly. Lesson 9 showed you that "extremely effective," "relatively effective," and "probably effective" are three different claims, not three ways of saying the same thing — so choosing the wrong degree or certainty word in your own writing overstates or understates exactly what you mean.
Degree, Then Certainty
Core Concept
Use am/is/are to link a subject to a description: "The plan is effective." Add a degree adverb to control its strength: "The plan is highly effective" (strong) versus "The plan is relatively effective" (effective compared to something else, not absolutely). Add a certainty adverb to control how sure you sound: "This probably caused the delay" claims far less than the flat "This caused the delay."
Common Mistake
Never add a second main verb after "to be" for a simple description — "The plan is have effective" is not a sentence English recognizes, even though every individual word is real English. The adjective does the describing; "to be" just connects it to the subject.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Write five sentences about your work: two descriptions using "to be" + adjective, with a degree adverb attached to at least one (highly, relatively, extremely); two claims about a cause or result, each using a certainty adverb (probably, certainly, possibly) that honestly matches how sure you actually are; and one sentence stacking an adverb + adjective + noun before a head noun.
Vocabulary in Context
degreenounneutral
how strong or weak a quality is (মাত্রা)
Often with to a large degree, degree of certainty, degree of risk
“The email states the degree of certainty clearly: 'almost certainly delayed'.”
hedgeverbformal
to soften a claim on purpose, to avoid overstating certainty (সতর্কভাবে দাবি সীমিত করা)
Often with hedge a claim, hedge carefully, hedge with 'may'
“The analyst hedged the forecast by adding 'may' and 'in most cases'.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
My colleague is highly reliable and hardworking.
The delay was relatively short compared to last month's.
This probably caused the schedule change, though I haven't confirmed it yet.
The system failure certainly affected today's shipment.
A highly experienced port manager reviewed the final report.
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Does your degree adverb genuinely match how strong the quality really is, not just sound more impressive?
- Does your certainty adverb honestly reflect how sure you actually are, rather than overstating a guess as a fact?
- Did you avoid adding a second main verb after "to be" anywhere in your sentences?
Next: Writing 10 — writing two sentences that refer back to each other correctly with a pronoun, following Lesson 10.