Why is quite an adverb

Less or fewer? Look at , see or watch? Low or short? Man , mankind or people? Maybe or may be? Maybe or perhaps? Nearest or next? Never or not … ever? Nice or sympathetic? No doubt or without doubt? No or not? Nowadays , these days or today? Open or opened? Opportunity or possibility? Opposite or in front of? Other , others , the other or another?

Out or out of? Permit or permission? Person , persons or people? Pick or pick up? Play or game? Politics , political , politician or policy?

Price or prize? Principal or principle? Raise or rise? Remember or remind? Right or rightly? Rob or steal? Say or tell? So that or in order that? Sometimes or sometime? Sound or noise? Speak or talk? Such or so? Towards or toward? Wait or wait for? Wake , wake up or awaken? Worth or worthwhile? Noun phrases: dependent words Noun phrases: order Noun phrases: uses Noun phrases: noun phrases and verbs Noun phrases: two noun phrases together. Pronouns: possessive my , mine , your , yours , etc.

Pronouns: reflexive myself , themselves , etc. Pronouns: indefinite - body , - one , - thing , - where Pronouns: one , you , we , they Relative pronouns Questions: interrogative pronouns what , who Someone , somebody , something , somewhere That. Dates Measurements Number Time. Geographical places Names and titles: addressing people Nationalities, languages, countries and regions Place names.

Reported speech Reported speech: direct speech Reported speech: indirect speech. British and American English Dialect Double negatives and usage Formal and informal language Newspaper headlines Register Slang Standard and non-standard language Swearing and taboo expressions.

Past simple I worked Past continuous I was working Past continuous or past simple? Past simple or present perfect? Used to Past perfect simple I had worked Past perfect continuous I had been working Past perfect simple or past perfect continuous? Past perfect simple or past simple? Past verb forms referring to the present Past: typical errors. Present continuous I am working Present perfect continuous I have been working Present perfect simple I have worked Present perfect simple or present perfect continuous?

Present perfect: typical errors Present simple I work Present simple or present continuous? Present: typical errors Present verb forms referring to the past. Join us Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press! Want to learn more? Extra Examples The bottle is not quite empty. The two things are not quite the same.

We are never quite sure what to expect. Which Word? The exam was quite difficult. The exam was rather difficult. Quite has quite a few slightly different meanings. It is often used to add some kind of emphasis, but sometimes it is used to do the opposite, so it can be quite confusing unless you can use the context of the sentence to figure out which meaning is intended.

It can also be used in ways that emphasize that something is considerable or exceptional, as in quite a lot or that was quite the adventure. Feel free to take it as a compliment either way. Sometimes, quite is used as a sentence substitute , meaning it can be used in place of a sentence, usually in response to something. When used this way, it indicates agreement or an affirmative response equivalent to yes.

What are some synonyms for quite? Quite is used quite commonly. After 13 years of friendship I still don't hate you. It's quite the opposite. Happy birthday michael5sos. It's quite nice to see the rain again. I think the grass must be doing a happy dance. Imports of raw cotton only gradually took up the slack-and then only in quite erratic fashion.

However, there are quite a few pairs of systems for which the families of minimal cut sets cannot be ordered. The concept of the tachyon does not violate the principles of special relativity, and they are quite a simple theoretical construct. The book is quite valuable for touching on so many relevant themes. The transformation of the body by burning implies quite different things within different eschatologies.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. Translations of quite in Chinese Traditional. See more. Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of quite? Browse quirky. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day have a heart of gold. Blog Outsets and onsets!

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