Unit 104. Quite, pretty, rather and fairly

Unit 104; Part A

You can use quite / pretty / rather / fairly + adjectives or adverbs. So you can say:
• It's quite cold. It's pretty cold. It's rather cold. It's fairly cold.

Quite / pretty / rather / fairly = less than 'very' but more than 'a little'.

Unit 104; Part B

Quite and pretty are very similar in meaning:

      •    You'll need a coat when you go out. It's quite cold / pretty cold. (= less than 'very cold', but more than 'a little cold')
      •    I'm surprised you haven't heard of her. She's quite famous / pretty famous.
      •    Amanda 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:
      •    Sally has quite a good job.
          Sally 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 people at the meeting.
quite + verb, especially like and enjoy:
      •    I quite like tennis, but it's not my favourite sport.

Unit 104; Part C

Rather is similar to quite and pretty. We often use rather for negative ideas:

      •    The weather isn't so good. It's rather cloudy.
      •    Paul is rather shy. He doesn't talk very much.
Quite and pretty are 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?

Unit 104; Part D

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.

Unit 104; Part E

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:
      •    They haven't quite finished their dinner yet.
      •    I don't quite understand what you mean.
      •    'Are you ready yet?'    'Not quite.' (= not completely)

Exercises

1 Complete the sentences using quite + the following.

Complete the sentences using quite + the following:

~~famous~~ good hungry late noisy often old surprised

1    I'm surprised you haven't heard of her. She's    quite famous .
2    I'm ______________. Is there anything to eat?
3    'How were the photographs you took?'    ' ______________. Better than usual.'
4    I go to the cinema ______________ - maybe once a month.
5    We live near a very busy road, so it's often ______________.
6    I didn't expect Laura to contact me. I was ______________ when she phoned.
7    I went to bed ______________ last night, so I'm a bit tired this morning.
8    I don't know exactly when these houses were built, but they're _____________.

2 Complete the sentences using quite + the following.

Complete the sentences using quite + the following:

a busy day a good voice a nice time a lot of traffic
a nice day a long way a strong wind

1    The weather was better than we had expected. It was    quite a nice day .
2    Tom often sings. He's got ___________________.
3    The bus stop wasn't very near the hotel. We had to walk ___________________.
4    It's warm today, but there's ___________________.
5    The journey took longer than I expected. There was ___________________.
6    I'm tired. I've had ___________________.
7    Our holiday was OK. We had ___________________.

3 Use your own ideas to complete these sentences.

Use your own ideas to complete these sentences. Use rather + adjective.

1    The weather isn't so good. It's   rather cloudy .
2    I enjoyed the film, but it was _______________.
3    The hotel we stayed at wasn't very good. I was _______________.
4    I think it's _______________ that Chris went away without telling anybody.
5    Lucy doesn't like having to wait. Sometimes she's _______________.

4 Complete these sentences using quite + the following.

Complete these sentences using quite + the following:

different impossible right safe sure ~~true~~ unnecessary

1    I didn't believe her at first, but in fact what she said was    quite true .
2    You won't fall. The ladder is ________________.
3    I'm afraid I can't do what you ask. It's ________________.
4    I couldn't agree with you more. You are ________________.
5    You can't compare rhe rwo things. They are ________________.
6    You needn't have done that. It was ________________.
7    I think I saw them go out, but I'm not ________________.

Unit 103 Unit 104 Unit 105

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