Rather and fairly
Another useful way to describe differences is to give your opinion about them. You can do this with the words 'rather' and 'fairly'. These words mean 'slightly', but they also have a faintly negative meaning. For example:
Sales of widgets were low from 1990 to 1995. This could be because they were
fairly expensive, compared to gadgets, during this period. [You are hinting that
·expensive·= 'bad'.]
Although the literacy rate for men was close to the world average, the literacy
rate for women was rather low. [You are hinting that 'low literacy rate· = bad.]
'Rather' can also have a faint meaning of 'unexpected'. For example:
Sales of pink cars were almost zero for most of the period, but for a short period
( 1987 to 1989) the colour was rather popular.
Although Sweden has the Lowest birth rate, it has a rather high number of
paediatricians per capita.
|
Bình luận