[Vocabulary] rather or quite?

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roseriver1012

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I really hate to ask questions of such a kind, but I have to make it clear what on earth it is about.

It is one thing to enjoy listening to good music, but it is ______ another to play it well yourself.
A. quite B. rather

The right choice is "quite". I don't know why. I can't precisely tell the difference between these two words--"quite" and "rather". Could you help me? Thanks!
 

Raymott

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I really hate to ask questions of such a kind, but I have to make it clear what on earth it is about.

It is one thing to enjoy listening to good music, but it is ______ another to play it well yourself.
A. quite B. rather

The right choice is "quite". I don't know why. I can't precisely tell the difference between these two words--"quite" and "rather". Could you help me? Thanks!
It might be just usage. We could say "rather another" without any great change in meaning. But we don't (or I haven't heard it).
"Quite" in this context is stronger. Another example:
A: "Are you sure?" B: "I'm quite sure!"
If you said, "I'm rather sure", that would mean you're not as sure as A would like you to be (And we don't say this either. We'd say, "I'm fairly sure" to mean "not quite 100% sure".

In other contexts, they mean the same: "She's quite/rather pretty".
 
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