rather, fairly, quite and pretty

Question

I'm settling down rather well.rather/fairly/quite/prettyDo you think all the words above are interchangeable?What would be the difference if any?

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

>Do you think all the words above are interchangeable?
In this context, yes, IMO.

FRANKLY SPEAKING · Answer

AS I know in general they are interchangeable
But sometimes you can not interchange because it depends on the meaning that you want to express
here what OXFORD says :
-quite : to some degree
-pretty : to some extent
-rather :used to mean 'fairly' or 'to some degree
- fairly : to some extent but not very

SO in some cases " rare cases " you are supposed to use just one of them
For example :
i am pretty miserable
" here i express that i feel too bad , so i can not say i am fairly miserable "
THAT IS AS I KNOW , AND I WANT SOMEONE TO CORRECT MY ANSWERS IF THEY ARE WRONG

Marius Hancu · Answer

Adding to my post (which I can't edit any more), quite is more positive (towards considerably well), while the others are more reserved (towards tolerably well), IMO.

Teleostomi · Answer

Thank you very much for your excellent explanations!

I heard some of them are a bit differently used by the British and the Americans.

Is it so?

FRANKLY SPEAKING · Answer

I think it is time to hear from a native speaker , what is right and what is wrong in both spoken and written language about the last question ..." waiting "

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

I'm settling down rather well.

rather/fairly/quite/pretty

Do you think all the words above are interchangeable?

What would be the difference if any? Often, you can interchange these. Much depends on the context, and even on the speaker's tone of voice and facial expression.

Subject to the above comments, here are a few very general and somewhat subjective comments on differences. Let's consider the question 'How is your son doing in his first year at University?'

He's doing rather well. He has no real problems, everything is fine. Maybe even better than expected. The speaker may even being rather modest about his son's great success (I did rather well at the Olympics, I won a gold medal).

He's doing fairly well. He has at least a few problems, he isn't meeting expectations. But it's not terrible.

He's doing quite well. No real problems, no reason to worry. Maybe he can do better.

He's doing pretty well. No real problems, no reason to worry.

He's doing rather badly. He has serious problems. The speaker may even understating his level of concern and dismay.

He's doing fairly badly. He has at least a few problems, he isn't meeting expectations. But it's not terrible. 'Fairly' sounds just a little odd when used here in a negative context.

He's doing quite badly. The situation is not good.

He's doing pretty badly. Maybe he's going to fail.

Best wishes, Clive

Teleostomi · Answer

From your explanation, Clive, this inequation arises.

rather>pretty/quite/>fairly

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Yes, but you shouldn't try to be too "mathematical" about it. As I said, much depends on context, tone, etc.

Best wishes again, Clive

Aperisic · Answer

Teleostomi

I'm settling down rather well.

rather/fairly/quite/pretty

Do you think all the words above are interchangeable?
What would be the difference if any?

A few moments more:

The frequency of usage is as follow

(slightly less used) rather < fairly < quite < pretty (most used)

Besides what other people said here, I am adding that rather might have a slight touch of unexpected, surprising situation. The others almost none or not that much. fairly maybe suggests that the item complies the standard as expected.

If I was a journalist here is my list

The movie is rather good. (Go and see it, you might be surprised)
The movie is fairly good. (Go and see it, it is standard for this director)
The movie is quite good. (Go and see it, you shouldn't miss it)
The movie is pretty good. (Go and see it, you shouldn't miss it)

good

good -

more than good.

emotion

Teleostomi · Answer

You excellently nailed it, onto the again excellent Clive's explanation.

The movie is rather excellent.

The movie is fairly excellent.

The movie is quite excellent.

The movie is pretty excellent.

Are all these strange?

rather, fairly, quite and pretty

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