Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Sensational Sam will explain 4 uses of quite – and they’re quite good! Give us 60 seconds and we’ll give you the English!
Sam
Hi everyone, Sam here. And in this lesson, we’re going to look at 4 different uses of quite.
We use quite before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘less than very, but more than a little’. It’s quite cold and it’s raining quite heavily today.
We can use quite before a verb – often the verbs ‘like’ and ‘enjoy’. I quite like watching football but I don’t love playing it.
We can use quite a before an adjective + noun. My brother is quite a good musician. But if we take the adjective away, and just have quite a + noun, the meaning changes. My brother is quite a musician, which means ‘my brother is a very good musician. He’s impressive.
So quite is quite useful, isn’t it?
4 uses of quite
Before an adjective / adverb
We use quite before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘less than very, but more than a little’.
- It’s quite cold and it’s raining quite heavily today.
Before a verb
We can use quite before a verb – often the verbs ‘like’ and ‘enjoy’.
- I quite like watching football but I don’t love playing it.
Adjective + noun
We can use quite a before an adjective + noun. This means ‘less than very, but more than a little’.
- My brother is quite a good musician.
+ noun
We can use quite + noun to mean ‘very good’ or ‘impressive’
- My brother is quite a musician