Page 220 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
104 quite, pretty, rather and fairly

A Quite and pretty are similar in meaning (= less than ‘very’, but more than ‘a little’):
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her. She’s quite famous. or She’s pretty famous.
(= less than ‘very famous’, but more than ‘a little famous’)
Anna lives quite near me, so we see each other pretty often.
Pretty is an informal word and is used mainly in spoken English.
Quite goes before a/an:
We live in quite an old house. (not a quite old house)
Compare:
Sarah has quite a good job.
Sarah has a pretty good job.
You can also use quite (but not pretty) in the following ways:
quite a/an + noun (without an adjective):
I didn’t expect to see them. It was quite a surprise. (= quite a big surprise)
quite a lot (of …):
There were quite a lot of guests at the wedding.
quite + verb, especially like and enjoy:
I quite like tennis, but it’s not my favourite sport.

B Rather is similar to quite and pretty. We often use rather for negative ideas (things we think are not
good):
The weather isn’t so good. It’s rather cloudy.
Paul is rather shy. He doesn’t talk very much.
Quite is also possible in these examples.
When we use rather for positive ideas (good/nice etc.), it means ‘unusually’ or ‘surprisingly’:
These oranges are rather good. Where did you get them?

C Fairly is weaker than quite/rather/pretty. For example, if something is fairly good, it is not very
good and it could be better:
My room is fairly big, but I’d prefer a bigger one.
We see each other fairly often, but not as often as we used to.

D Quite also means ‘completely’. For example:
‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yes, quite sure.’ (= completely sure)
Quite means ‘completely’ with a number of adjectives, especially:
sure right true clear different incredible amazing
certain wrong safe obvious unnecessary extraordinary impossible
She was quite different from what I expected. (= completely different)
Everything they said was quite true. (= completely true)
We also use quite (= completely) with some verbs. For example:
I quite agree with you. (= I completely agree)
not quite = not completely:
I don’t quite understand what you mean.
‘Are you ready yet?’ ‘Not quite.’ (= not completely)

Compare the two meanings of quite:
The story is quite interesting. (= less than ‘very interesting’)
The story is quite true. (= completely true)

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