Quite, pretty, rather and fairly

You can use quite-pretty-rather-fairly + adjetives or adverbs.

So you can say:

- It's quite cold

- It's pretty cold

- It's rather cold

- It's fairly cold

Quite and pretty are very similar in meaning

- You' ll need a coat when you go out. It's quiet 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)

- 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 / a + noum (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

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

The weather isn't not 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...) it means "unusually" or "surprisingly"

These oranges are rather good. Where did you get them?

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 farily big, but I'd prefer a bigger one

We see each other fairly often, but not as foten as we used to.

Quite also means "completely"

Are you sure?

Yes quite sure (completely sure)

Quite means "completely" with a number of adjetives, especially:

sure

right

true

clear

different

incredible

amazing

certain

wrong

safe

obvious

unnecesary

extraordinary

imposible

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.

I quite agree with you- completely agree

Not quite- Not completely

They haven' t quite finished thir dinner yet

I don't quite understand what you mean

Are you ready yet? Not quite.