What is the difference between Fairly and Pretty and Rather ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.

@AnyaMeow

You mean in the way that people say things like –

Fairly good/pretty good/rather good

…?

They are all expressions of degree, the amount of something – but it is a complicated subject, because it isn’t always the same between different subjects, and people use them differently in different places.

For instance, if an Australian tells you that something is pretty good, they literally mean that it’s good, but not the best. But then, if the same Australian says that they are pretty tired, it means that they want to go to sleep immediately.

Now, if we have a British person saying that something is rather good, that’s almost the same as saying that it’s completely brilliant. But if this British person is pretty tired, they could probably be talked into staying awake for a while longer.

Then, if the Australian tells you that something is pretty amazing, there’s a good chance that they are being sarcastic. But if an American says the same thing, they are almost certainly extremely excited about how amazing the thing is.

So what does this tell you? You cannot rely on fixed definitions for these type of degree statements. You must pay attention to the context.

It’s the same all over the world when it comes to these non-exact expressions of degree and timing. When somebody says NOW in South Africa, it means something completely different to somebody in Canada saying exactly the same thing. When the degree or intensity is not exactly expressed, the meaning is cultural.

If you have any specific questions about these types of usages, I’d be happy to try and answer, but as I hope I have explained, there isn’t always an easy answer.