Adjective Mitigators


Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers.

When we want to make an adjective less strong we use these words fairly | rather | quite

At the end of the day, we were rather tired.
The film wasn't great, but it was quite exciting.


and in informal English - pretty

We had a pretty good time at the party.


Quite

When we use quite with a normal adjective, it makes the adjective less strong

The food was quite bad.
➧ The food was bad but not very bad.

My nephew is quite clever.
➧ My nephew is clever but not very clever.


But when we use quite with a strong adjective, it means the same as absolutely

The food was quite awful.
➧ The food was absolutely awful.

As a child he was quite brilliant.
➧ As a child he was absolutely brilliant.


Mitigators with comparatives

We use these words and phrases as mitigators

a bit
just a bit
a little
a little bit
rather | slightly
just a little bit

She's a bit younger than I am.
It takes two hours on the train but it is a little bit longer by road.
This one is rather bigger.


We use slightly and rather as mitigators with comparative adjectives in front of a noun

This is a slightly more expensive model than that.
This is a rather bigger one than that.

More Lessons ➧ Here


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