We describe the syntactic distributions of the noun degré ‹degree›, when it is combined with abstract nouns (quality, state, process), especially in indefinite noun phrases. The semantic nature of intensive magnitude denoted by the abstract nouns (Van de Velde 1995) imposes a semantic bias on what such a NP can designate: it is usually a higher zone of intensity that is referred to. Because of its evidently subjective nature, a categorization with [un degree Adj] de [a Adj degree of ] constrains the speaker to furnish a correlate to the degree in question, especially when the theme of discourse is about that aspect of the quality, state or process. To describe this correlate, he/she puts to use such diverse syntactic structures as parataxis and hypotaxis.