Rather
and Fairly
1/Both are adverbs and mean moderately
2/Fairlry + favourable adjectives (good,pretty,smart,impressive….)
Rather + unfavourable adjectives (bad,stupid,boring,unkind….)
3/With rather,
the indefinite article can be placed before or after:
§
It’s a rather stupid idea
or It’s rather a
stupid idea.
4/Fairly and Rather can be used both with fact adjectives (new, old,
black are fact adjectives. They give us factual information about, age,colour………..etc.)
to express approval or disapproval
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Fairly is used to express “approval”:
- The weather is fairly
cold. (It implies that the speaker likes
the weather)
§
Rather is used to express “disapproval”:
- The weather is rather cold. (It
implies that it is too cold for the speaker)
5/Rather is used with favourable adjectives:
v To express a surprise
to others or to the speaker himself:
§
I thought the
room would be filthy but it was rather squeaky clean.
*** It can be used in the same with some verbs with
the meaning “usual” or “surprisingly”:
§
Most people
don’t like swimming in this lake, but I rather enjoy it.
