Synonyms for "very happy"

[andresalles2022]

Are you trying to teach them English without using any Portuguese in your classes? If not, surely it would be more helpful to just translate for them,. If they're aware that "em êxtase" (ecstatic) doesn't mean the same as "muito feliz" (very happy), then they'll understand why they can't just swap one word for another.

Point 1. I am using both Portuguese and English in class.
Point 2. I am not just plainly asking them to swap the words in any sentence without any criterion. I am teaching them new vocabulary and making them aware that there are differences in intensity and context. My purpose is just to help them make more accurate choices in terms of vocabulary.

 

[SoothingDave]

To me "cheerful" describes a person and their attitude. I would never say "the result of the football game made me cheerful."

 

[andresalles2022]

I think you mean they can enrich their vocabulary by adding words to it.

www.dictionary.com

Dictionary.com has a thesaurus feature.

Yes, I want to offer them more options they can choose from, so that they can make more accurate choices when speaking or writing.

 

[andresalles2022]

To me "cheerful" describes a person and their attitude. I would never say "the result of the football game made me cheerful."

That´s why I´m not simply teaching the words, but also the context they belong to so that students can make accurate choices.

 

[Tarheel]

@andresalles2022 You will find all of those words you mentioned in any list of synonyms for "happy". (As has already been pointed out, that doesn't mean they're used the same way.)

 

[probus]

Ever heard of 'chuffed to bits'?

Personally I like chuffed, but it is unknown in AmE. Chuff is BrE only.

 

[Tarheel]

Ok OK/Okay, thank you very much for your help.

@andresalles2022 That would be too much typing for me.
To indicate agreement you can use the "like" button.

 

[jutfrank]

If you're teaching this stuff, you need to organise the lexis by how it's modified. Some of these words are what we call extreme adjectives. For example:

absolutely delighted
very delighted

absolutely cheerful
very cheerful

 

[jutfrank]

i think quite a few people have forgotten about extreme adjectives. I found 74 COCA citations for 'absolutely delighted' and nearly three thousand Google Books Corpus citations. i might even say it myself.

Do you mean 'very' delighted?

Extreme adjectives are still very much a thing in contemporary course materials. Just as much as they were thirty years ago.

 

[jutfrank]

No. Absolutely delighted.

Sorry, I don't follow. What's your point exactly? Are you saying that 74 COCA citations is a surprisingly tiny number? I don't think it is.

 

[Piscean]

My apologies. I was talking nonsense. I have deleted my unhelpful posts. Unfortunately they have disappeared without a trace, leaving a hiccup in the thread.

 

[jutfrank]

Ah, okay. No worries.