robsee  +  83572 Thu, 24 Mar 05 05:02 PM Hello, I have some problems with the sentences below: 1. You did fairly well in that quiz, you got most of the answers right. 2. He has been sent off the field. Quite fair in my opinion. After all, he really wasn't playing fairly. 3. It's still fairly early, but that's good. 4. Those flowers look lovely. You've aranged them so prettily. May I also use in sentence 1 and 3 a 'pretty'? I ask, because I have often read these sentences with a 'pretty' instead 'fairly'. It would be nice if someone might tell me whether the sentences above are correct, and what is the difference between 'fairly' and 'pretty'? Robert robsee Joined on Wed, Nov 10 2004 New Member 50 Difference Between

	pieanne  +  83574 Thu, 24 Mar 05 05:31 PM Hi! Let me try... 1. fairly (pretty would be OK) = rather 2. not fairly (pretty not OK) = he cheated, or didn't respect the rules 3. fairly (or pretty) = rather 4. prettily (not fairly) = in a pretty way. Pretty (adj) can mean nice, beautiful; so can fair: "appealing to the eyes" Fair (adj) can mean "according to the rules" Pretty = fairly (adv) in the meaning of rather (but a positive "rather") Prettily (adv) only means "in a pretty (nice) way" Does it help? pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	robsee  +  83595 Thu, 24 Mar 05 06:15 PM Hi, and thanks for the fast answer. So I understood, all the sentences are correct, but I may use pretty in the sentences 1 and 3 as well. What would sound more English, with fairly or with pretty? Robert robsee

	pieanne  +  83602 Thu, 24 Mar 05 06:32 PM SORRY, Robert, I left out "fairly" in the meaning of "accordingly to the rules"... In 1. you can use both fairly and pretty, I'd say "pretty" sounds more BEnglish. But you can't use "pretty" in 3., it doesn't mean "rather", it's "accordingly to the rules". pieanne

	robsee  +  83638 Thu, 24 Mar 05 10:20 PM I'm confused now. Why I cannot use 'fairly' in sentence 3? There are no rules, or did I get anything wrong. robsee

	pieanne  +  83747 Fri, 25 Mar 05 09:00 AM My mistake again! I mixed up 2. and 3. Fairly is quite OK in three, you didn't get anything wrong... pieanne

	paco2004  +  83755 Fri, 25 Mar 05 09:26 AM Hello Pieanne I feel some difference between 'fairly well' and 'pretty well'. 'Fairly well' sounds 'tolerably well but not very well' 'Pretty well' can mean both 'tolerably well' and 'very well' (??) You did it fairly well! Congratulations! (OK) You did it pretty well! Congratulations! paco paco2004 Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004 Senior Member 4,095 In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English. Difference Between

	pieanne  +  83777 Fri, 25 Mar 05 10:50 AM I feel the same, that's why I wrote "pretty" is a positive rather. I forgot to say it was "more positive" than "fairly". pieanne