pretty good? very good?

[2011yt]

which is better " pretty good" or "very good"?

and what is "pretty much"?


doesn't pretty mean "cute"?

[SanMar]

which is better " pretty good" or "very good"?

and what is "pretty much"?


doesn't pretty mean "cute"?

In this case pretty is to used to indicate how good something is.
I believe it is called an intensifier but maybe a teacher should verify this.

The movie was good, pretty good, or, very good.

You know this may have already been asked by someone else, I think.

Not a teacher.



There are a few posts about this already. Do a search or check the links below as well. :)

[sunsunmoon]

pretty adverb

1 : to some degree or extent but not very or extremely : fairly
▪ The house was pretty [=moderately, rather] big.
▪ It's pretty cold outside.
▪ “Did you put the keys on the table?” “I'm pretty sure I did.”
▪ The teams are pretty equally matched.
▪ The work is pretty hard.
▪ I have to leave pretty soon.
▪ The movie was pretty good but not great.
▪ (US) I'm pretty near/nearly done. [=I'm almost done]

2 : to a great degree or extent : very
▪ His injury was pretty bad. [=his injury was bad]
▪ We got pretty [=quite] close.
▪ They've accomplished some pretty amazing things.
▪ She was driving pretty fast.

[TheParser]

which is better " pretty good" or "very good"?

and what is "pretty much"?


doesn't pretty mean "cute"?

NOT A TEACHER


(1) Tom: How was the movie?


Martha: It was great./ very good./ fantastic./ really good

("real" good in popular English)/ super.


***


(2) Mona: How was the movie?

Ralph: Oh, it was OK./ pretty good./ not bad/ so so.


Respectfully yours,


James

[5jj]

Note that for speakers of BrE, pretty' can, with the right intonation, mean 'very'.

Britsh understatement can sometimes surprise speakers of AmE. Some of my American trainees were very disappointed if I told them that their work was 'not bad' or 'pretty good'. Sometimes when I said that, they would ask, "What was wrong with it?". They had not recognised the praise in my words.

[SanMar]

Note that for speakers of BrE, pretty' can, with the right intonation, mean 'very'.

Britsh understatement can sometimes surprise speakers of AmE. Some of my American trainees were very disappointed if I told them that their work was 'not bad' or 'pretty good'. Sometimes when I said that, they would ask, "What was wrong with it?". They had not recognised the praise in my words.

I think, generally speaking, the same applies to Canadians. Although if you say not bad you have to indicate with your tone and usually facial expression that you mean very good. Here not bad can be easily be interpreted as "it wasn't complete crap" depending on how it's said.

Ah the joys of language, communication and confusion! I admire anyone trying to learn another language (especially English)

Not a teacher.

[Tdol]

pretty adverb

1 : to some degree or extent but not very or extremely : fairly
▪ The house was pretty [=moderately, rather] big.
▪ It's pretty cold outside.
▪ “Did you put the keys on the table?” “I'm pretty sure I did.”
▪ The teams are pretty equally matched.
▪ The work is pretty hard.
▪ I have to leave pretty soon.
▪ The movie was pretty good but not great.
▪ (US) I'm pretty near/nearly done. [=I'm almost done]

2 : to a great degree or extent : very
▪ His injury was pretty bad. [=his injury was bad]
▪ We got pretty [=quite] close.
▪ They've accomplished some pretty amazing things.
▪ She was driving pretty fast.

When quoting things, can you include the URL for copyright reasons. Thanks.

[emsr2d2]

NOT A TEACHER



Martha: It was great./ very good./ fantastic./ really good

("real" good in popular English)/ super.

I would add that "real" good would be seen as an Americanism, at least in BrE.

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


To: My fellow English learners


(1) Be VERY careful before you use the word "quite."

MRS. JONES: Do you like the dinner? I spent 5 hours cooking it.

AN AMERICAN: It is quite good.

(Mrs. Jones smiled.)

A BRITISH PERSON : It is quite good.

(Mrs. Jones started to cry.)

***

When an American says "quite good," it means very good.

When a British person says "quite good," it means NOT very good!!!

***

This is NOT my idea. I learned about this from a book written by a man who

was once the editor of London's legendary newspaper "The Times," which

(many, many years ago) was the most powerful newspaper in the world.

Alas! It no longer is.)


James

[emsr2d2]

I'm not sure I'd go as far as saying that it means "not very good" in BrE. However, it is quite common for "It's quite good" to be followed by "but..." and we all know what that means!

It's quite good but it could have done with less salt.
It was quite good but I preferred the one we saw last week.
You're quite attractive (unspoken "but you could be more attractive"!)