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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team
Hi Adoh,
Welcome to LearnEnglish! From your description of your problem, I think it's probably something with your computer. Maybe try using a different web browser (for example, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome) or find someone who knows a little about computers to help you.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
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.
hello haleh . I am fresh .I want to you meet
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 .
team
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
Hello tata!
Don't worry! + ing and + ed adjectives work exactly the same as normal adjectives. You just need to be careful about the meaning - I am bored means I am feeling bored, but I am boring means YOU feel bored by me. You can find more information on our page about + ed and + ing adjectives, and you can practice them here.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
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?