Mehrdad
It is quite a big house. What does it mean? 1) It is completly big.It is really big) 2)It is big to some extend but not completly.(It is somehow big) Actually (the?)Cambridge dictionary has created me this confusion!
5 de jun de 2020 19:39
Respostas · 17
2
British and American English speakers use the word 'quite' in different ways. In British English, the meaning of the adverb 'quite' depends on whether the adjective is gradable or not: 1. When used with a gradable adjective such as 'big', 'quite' means 'to a certain extent': It is quite a big house = It is a fairly big house This means that the house is reasonably big: relatively large ( but not enormous). 2. When used with a non-gradable adjective or 'extreme' adjective, 'quite' means 'totally'. For example: 'That is quite ridiculous!' As I understand it, speakers of American English don't use 'quite' in the sense of 'fairly'. For AmE speakers, 'quite' is stronger than 'very'. Take a look at this: https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/the-trickiest-word-in-american
5 de junho de 2020
2
This is a great question, and I think the reason you're getting different answers from your commenters is that the answer is in fact different in British English and American English. "Quite," "very," and "extremely" are all adverbs called intensifiers that change the degree of the adjective to which they're attached - but these words have different strengths in British and American English. In American English: very < quite < extremely Here, "quite" is a little bit stronger than "very." It's not as commonly used in American English, but when it is, it often has a feeling of surprise: "This house is quite big! Bigger than I expected!" In British English: quite < very < extremely Here, "quite" means something similar to "somewhat," and it's among the mildest intensifiers you can use: "This house is quite big, but I'm not sure it will fit all of us." In fact, sometimes it's so mild it can mean the opposite of what it seems! A statement like "The meal was quite nice," in certain situations, could be interpreted as "The meal was not actually nice, but I'm too polite to tell you what I really think." Finally - just to be more confusing - in both British and American English, "quite" can sometimes mean "completely, 100%." For example, "I'm not quite finished" will always mean "I'm not 100% finished." This happens when the word "quite" is attached to a word that *can't* be intensified - in this example, you can either be "finished" or "not finished," and there are no degrees of judgment in between the two.
5 de junho de 2020
2
Number 2. The word quite immediately gives the information "to some extent or to a certain degree but not completely", so I would definitely say number 2.
5 de junho de 2020
2
Number 2 is the best, but every speaker has different opinions, what is a big house for one person is not so big to/for another person. We use it is quite x, to signify it is very X but not excessively X "The ice cream was quite nice"= you enjoyed the ice cream a little but you prefer other ice cream, or you think the ice cream could have been better, even nicer, more delicious. "The lesson was quite tiring" = the lesson was tiring but not excessively tiring, you will recover after a short break and a cup of tea. "The car was quite expensive" = the car was expensive more expensive than you might have wanted/expected, but you can still just about afford it. "It is quite a big house" = big but not as big as the very biggest houses, bigger than the standard but not as big as a mansion. Something a middle class person or professional earning person might live in but not a president of a country, or a billionaire or an arms dealer or international drugs dealer. I hope you get the picture.
5 de junho de 2020
1
Hello! I would say in 1) "It is huge". and 2)"It is quite big". So the comparisons when referring to a house could be: small, medium-sized, big, large, huge And then, of course, adjectives can add to those degrees of differences. For example, very small or very large. I hope that helps!
5 de junho de 2020
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