adverb...

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

Moderator: Alan

Post Reply
Sang-heui, Kim
Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:59 am
Location: Korea

adverb...

Post by Sang-heui, Kim »

Hi,
I always appreciate your answers.

I'd like to know the usage of "fairly / quite / rather / pretty / very".

Best regards.
User avatar
Alan
Teacher/Moderator
Teacher/Moderator
Posts: 15204
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Japan

Post by Alan »

As adverbials, the first four are generally interchangeable, all denoting a 'medium-grade' level of modification. 'Quite', however, depending on the adjective that it modifies, can mean 'completely', as in 'quite exhausted', or 'quite finished' (i.e. adjectives which generally do not admit of 'intermediate' levels). 'Very' denotes a higher level of amplification, thus 'very sick' would be sicker than simply 'pretty/fairly/rather sick'.
Post Reply