DEGREE MODIFIERS, MEANING and EXAMPLE

Difference Between Rather, Fairly, Quite, Pretty

Differences between Fairly and Rather Read these sentences

Fiona is fairly clever but Paul is rather stupid. The book was fairly interesting but the film was rather boring.

Fairly and rather mean: moderately, not good not bad. Fairly is used before "positive" adjectives:

fairly clever fairly interesting fairly good

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Rather is used before "negative" adjectives:

rather stupid rather boring rather bad

Fairly and Rather before 'Neutral' Adjectives Lets look at adjectives like:

fast hot tall heavy

These adjectives are neither "positive" nor "negative," they are "neutral." You can use both fairly and rather before neutral adjectives, but the meaning is different:

fairly hot rather hot

When you say: "This tea is fairly hot," you imply that you like to drink hot tea. So hot is "positive" for you. When you say: "This tea is rather hot," you imply that you dont like hot tea, o r that this tea is too hot for you to drink. So hot is "negative" for you.

Rather before 'Positive' Adjectives To make things more complicated rather can also be used before "positive" adjectives:

Fiona is rather clever. Paul is rather tall.

Fiona is rather clever means almost the same as Fiona is very clever. Rather clever is much more of a compliment than fairly clever.

Summary Fairly, Rather and Pretty Use fairly:

before a "positive" adjective; it means moderately, not good not bad Fiona is fairly clever. before a "neutral" adjective; speaker shows approval I drink my tea fairly hot. before a "negative" adjective; it means moderately, not good not bad This book is rather boring. before a "neutral" adjective, speaker shows disapproval This tea is rather hot. before a "positive" adjective; it means very Fiona is rather clever. before verbs of feeling and thought it means very I rather like tea.

Use rather:

Pretty is similar to rather but used in informal language and is never used before verbs:

This book is rather boring This book is pretty boring This tea is rather hot This tea is pretty hot Fiona is rather clever Fiona is pretty clever

How to Use Quite Quite is a little stronger in meaning than fairly and is used before "positive"' and "negative" adjectives:

quite clever quite stupid quite hot

Quite is often used before non-gradable adjectives. A non-gradable adjective cannot be used to say that something is more or less e.g. a glass cannot be more empty or less empty. An animal cannot be more dead or less dead.

Quite used before non-gradable adjectives means completely The bottle was quite empty. Quite used before gradable adjectives weakens the adjective Her English is quite good.
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Quite used before non-gradable adjectives often provides emphasis:

Fiona: Sorry, the bottle is empty. Paul: Oh surely there's just a drop more...? Fiona, turning the bottle upside down: No, really, it's quite empty.

Differences Between Fairly, Quite, Rather and Pretty

Fiona is fairly clever. (Im not so happy now. It means that Fiona is moderately clever.)

Fiona is quite clever. (This also means that Fiona is moderately clever, but quite suggests a higher degree than fairly) Fiona is clever. (Thats what I like people to say!) Fiona is rather clever. (Im happy now. It means Fiona is very clever.) Fairly Fiona speaks French fairly well Quite Fiona speaks French quite well Rather Fiona speaks French rather well Pretty Her French is pretty good

Intensificadores de Adjetivos
very (vri) - muy so (su) - tan too (tch) - demasiado quite (kuit) - bastante, completamente pretty (prti) - bastante fairly (frli) - bastante somewhat (sm-wat) - algo; un tanto rather (rder) - ms bien, algo, bastante, un poco a little (a ltl) - un poco enough (inf) - suficiente(mente) such (sch) - tal / tales / tan