mitigators
Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers. When we want to make an adjective less strong we use these words:
fairly - rather - quite
By 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.
We call these words mitigators.
| Warning |
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| quite |
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When we use quite with a strong adjective it means the same as absolutely: The food was quite awful. = The food was absolutely awful. |
Mitigators with comparatives:
We use these words and phrases as mitigators:
a bit - just a bit - a little - a little bit - just a little bit - rather - slightly
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 rather bigger one than that.
Adjectives as intensifiers:
We use some adjectives as intensifiers:
absolute
total - complete
utter - perfect
real
We say:
He’s a complete idiot.
They were talking utter nonsense.
… but we do not say:
The idiot was complete.
The nonsense they were talking was utter.
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hi Adam,I asked a question a few days ago about using of "and"or ","between adjectives in sentences ,but I did not get any answers .It s really confusing for me .please help me to understand it .
thanking you in advance for your help.
the best wishes.
Hi .I have a question ,but Ii is not about this part.In two below sentences why we should put comma or and between adjectives in one of them and in the other one we should not?
It was a short and easy exam.(It was a short ,easy exam.)
I built a red brick wall.
and in this one:
a beautiful and big garden
Is and or comma necessary here or not?I would be obliged if you explain these confusing things to me .
Hello haleh-m-f
First, sorry for the delay in answering your question, but please be patient - we are a small team!
In your first example, there is no need for the comma between the adjectives.
In the second example, I built a red brick wall, there is only one adjective (red), as brick is being used with wall to make a compound noun.
In the third, it gets more confusing, but you may be able to see a pattern! If there are just two adjectives, I wouldn't use a comma - It's a beautiful big garden is fine. If you change the order of the sentence to start with The garden, then you would need to use and to join the adjectives - The garden is big and beautiful.
If you wanted to add a third adjective, then you would use a comma and and! The garden is big, old and beautiful. Some people would use a comma before the and in this sentence, others wouldn't.
I hope that makes things a little clearer for you.
Regards,
Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear all
At first I want to thank you for your useful site . as we well know English is the most useful language in the word and I try to learn it. anyway ,I have problem in adjective + ing form . for instance , easy going person . actually , I want you to explain about it! Where , when , why you use it . please teach me!!
Best regards
tata
I learn a lot. tha
little bit difficult but it makes you deep thinker.
thanks
Thanks a lot for the great site,
However, I can't view the excercises properly any more! What's the problem?
Hello Waad,
Sorry to hear about this problem. Do you see any error message or just a blank space? Are you currently trying to view the exercise from within Syria? What web browser are you using?
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
hi i don't know how to talk daily activities with others
Brilliant lesson for people like me who wanted to learned good English......
Thank you Learning Team and more power
Cheers