"quite" vs "very"

[Lephuoc]

Which is higher in degree?
For example:
A is quite beautiful.
B is very beautiful.

So who is more beautiful, A or B?

[Alan]

Hi,

That's difficult to say. 'Quite' is often used to mean 'to a certain extent' 'not wholly' but it isn't used with adjectives that are unique. I would therefore interpret 'quite beautiful' to mean 'absolutely beautiful' in the sense that it would be difficult to find anyone/anything more beautiful. 'Very beautiful' suggests beautiful to a high degree. On balance I would think that 'quite beautiful' is the winner.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Lephuoc]

Many thanks Alan.