We have looked at 'softeners' before - here we have two more for you.
Using 'quite' as a softener'Quite' means less than 'very' but more than 'a little' (not very good, but OK) Click on my screen to let me talk to you about using 'quite'. |
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See how 'quite' makes these sentences sound nicer or not so negative:
- The meeting was quite good but the last week's meeting was much better.
- He is quite good with people, but not what I'd call a leader type.
- Her office is quite near mine, so we can discuss things face to face any time.
- I quite like our canteen but it is not my favorite place to eat
EXTRA: 'quite a : quite goes before a / an
- He is quite a good superior.
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Using 'quite' and 'not quite''quite' also means 'completely' and 'not quite' can mean 'not completely' :
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We use the softeners 'quite' or 'not quite' with a number of adjectives:
sure, certain, right, wrong, true, safe, clear,different, incredible,
extraordinary, amazing, impossible, unnecessary, obvious
sure, certain, right, wrong, true, safe, clear,different, incredible,
extraordinary, amazing, impossible, unnecessary, obvious
- I am sorry. It is quite impossible, I can't come !
- Are you sure ? Yes, quite sure
- Sorry, but I think that's not quite true.
- It's quite obvious that we have to improve our production procedures.
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See how 'rather' makes these sentences sound nicer or not so negative:
When we use 'rather' with positive words it means 'unusually' or 'surprisingly' :
- He is presenting rather badly
- 'What was the negotiation like ?' ' Rather difficult , I am afraid.'
- I was quite pleased with the hotel but my colleague was rather disappointed.
When we use 'rather' with positive words it means 'unusually' or 'surprisingly' :
- These statistics are rather positive ( better than expected )