'This book is a gem. A remarkably rigorous and systematic treatment of intensifiers in Late Modern English (focussing on the Old Bailey Corpus), it travels the whole gamut of pragmatics, from the more formal to the more social, and lights the way for future such studies, whether historical or present-day.' Jonathan Culpeper, Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Lancaster University
'This book is an impressively comprehensive study that fills a gap in historical research on intensifiers and imparts clarity over this complex and sometimes bewildering area of study. Intensifier usage is explored both descriptively and through a multivariate analysis, allowing the different social factors to be disentangled. The work will certainly provide the groundwork for future studies of the sociopragmatics of courtroom discourse more broadly.' Laurel J. Brinton, University of British Columbia, Vancouver