Quite, pretty, rather and fairly

Exercise 1 

Complete the sentences using quite + the following:

famous    good     hungry     late    noisy    often    old     surprised

1) I'm surprised you haven't heard of her. She's ________

2) I'm ________ . Is there anything to eat?

3) 'How were the pictures you took?' ‘________ . Better than usual.'

4) I go to the cinema ________ – maybe once a month.

5) We live near a very busy road, so it's often ________

6) I didn't expect Laura to contact me. I was ________ when she phoned.

7) I went to bed ________ last night, so I'm a bit tired this morning.

8) I don't know exactly when these houses were built, but they're ________

Show answers

1)

1  quite famous

2  quite hungry

3  Quite good

4  quite often

5  quite noisy

6  quite surprised

7  quite late

8  quite old

Exercise 2 

Put the words in the right order to complete the sentences.

1) The weather was better than we had expected.

     It was ________ (a / nice / quite / day).

2) Tom likes to sing.

     He has ________ (voice / quite / good /a).

3) The bus stop wasn't very near the hotel.

     We had to walk ________ (quite / way / a / long).

4) It's not so warm today.

     There's ________ (a / wind / cold / pretty).

5) The journey took longer than I expected.

     There was ________ (lot / traffic / a / of / quite).

6) I'm tired.

     I've had ________ (pretty / day / a / busy).

Show answers

2)

1  quite a nice day

2  quite a good voice

3  quite a long way

4  a pretty cold wind

5  quite a lot of traffic

6  a pretty busy day

Exercise 3 

Use your own ideas to complete these sentences. Use rather + adjective.

1) The weather isn't so good. It's ________

2) I enjoyed the film, but it was ________

3) The hotel we stayed at wasn't very good. I was ________

4) I think it's ________ that Chris went away without telling anybody.

5) Lucy doesn't like having to wait. Sometimes she's ________

Show answers

3)

1  rather cloudy

2  rather long

3  rather disappointed

4  rather strange

5  rather impatient

Exercise 4

What does quite mean in these sentences? Tick the right meaning.

more than a little, less than very

completely

1) It's quite cold. You'd better wear your coat.

________

________

2) 'Are you sure?' 'Yes, quite sure.'

________

________

3) Anna's English is quite good.

________

________

4) I couldn't believe it. It was quite incredible.

________

________

5) bedroom is quite big.

________

________

6) I'm quite tired. I think I'll go to bed.

________

________

7) I quite agree with you.

________

________

Show answers

4)

1  more than a little

2  complete

3  more than a little …

4  completely

5  more than a little …

6  more than a little …

7  completely

Exercise 5

Complete these sentences using quite + the following:

different     impossible     right     safe     sure     true     unnecessary

1) I didn't believe her at first, but in fact what she said was ________

2) You won't fall. The ladder is ________

3) I'm afraid I can't do what you ask. It's ________

4) I couldn't agree with you more. You are ________

5) You can't compare the two things. They are ________

6) You needn't have done that. It was ________

7) I think I saw them go out, but I'm not ________

Show answers

5)

1  quite true

2  quite safe

3  quite impossible

4  quite right

5  quite different

6  quite unnecessary

7  quite sure