|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Adverbs of degree
Adverbs of degree
|
ana.ap
|
Adverbs of degree
|
Hi people!
I �m going to work on adverbs of degree with my children, and I think the meaning of some of them can be a bit �subjective �. Also, in oxfords dictionaries I �ve found some differences between UK and American English.
Well, although I know some of them depend on the type of adjective (if it �s positive of negative, for example), my pupils are only 11 so I don �t want to go too far, I don �t want to overload them. Below you can see the scale I �ve created so far, but I �d like to read some opinions, specially from you native speakers, although every opinion will be certainly welcome. So... from low to high intensity:
- Not very
- A bit - Rather/ pretty
- Very/ quite
- Really
- Extremely My doubts have mostly to do with �pretty � and �quite �. Well, and with �fairly �... In case of adding �fairly �, it would go with rather, wouldn �t it?
Thanks a million in advance :)
|
21 Feb 2016
|
|
|
|
FrauSue
|
|
"Quite" can be a problem. It is usually equivalent to "fairly" (so somewhere close to "rather") - I �m quite good at Japanese, but not brilliant. However, in formal British English, it can be used as an emphatic qualifier meaning "absolutely," but only in collocation with certain adjectives. - He �s quite brilliant! - It �s usually with �absolute � adjectives which have no half measures, but not always. With 11-year-olds, I wouldn �t even mention this second role of "quite." "Pretty" is fine but tends to be used more in American than British English, although that is changing. |
21 Feb 2016
|
|
|
ana.ap
|
|
Thanks Sue. You �re right, the use of pretty and quite is often variable. Actually, I can assure that pretty is widely used nowadays in UK and Ireland, in informal situations mainly. Nevertheless, the problem with it is similar as the one with quite (depends on some contexts).
Thanks for your contribution! |
23 Feb 2016
|
|
|
