B1+Adjectives and adverbs

Pretty, rather, quite and fairly

Use degree adverbs to express moderate or strong intensity, recognizing differences in tone and adjective type.

Overview

What this grammar does

Use degree adverbs to express moderate or strong intensity, recognizing differences in tone and adjective type.

Form and rules

How it works

Pretty and fairly usually mean moderately/quite and are common in informal neutral descriptions.

Rather can mean more than expected and often carries surprise, criticism or a marked reaction.

Quite has several strengths: with gradable adjectives it often means fairly; with non-gradable/absolute adjectives it can mean completely.

Quite can come before a/an + adjective + noun: quite a difficult problem.

Degree meaning varies by context and accent, so teach the core patterns rather than treating these words as exact numerical scales.

A closer look

Meaning and use

Quite can come before a/an + adjective + noun: quite a difficult problem.

Degree meaning varies by context and accent, so teach the core patterns rather than treating these words as exact numerical scales.

Examples

See the pattern in complete sentences

The exam was pretty difficult.

The hotel is fairly comfortable.

It's rather expensive for such a small room.

The answer is quite simple.

It was quite an unusual experience.

Common mistakes

What to avoid

The restaurant was absolutely fairly expensive, more than I expected.

The restaurant was rather expensive, more than I expected.

Rather can express a stronger-than-expected reaction.

The hotel is completely comfortable but nothing special.

The hotel is fairly comfortable but nothing special.

Fairly naturally expresses a moderate degree.

Ready to practise?

The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.

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