Quiteis a degree adverb.It has two meanings depending on the word that follows it: ‘a little, moderately but not very’ and ‘very, totally or completely’:
He had beenquitegood at drawing when he was at school.(OK, moderately good but not outstanding)
They werequiteexcited about moving to a new place.(a little excited)
Her life isquitedifferent since she moved.(completely different)
I remembered the housequiteclearly now that I was walking towards it.(completely clearly)
Quite+ gradable adjectives and adverbs
When we usequitewith a gradable adjective or adverb, it usually means ‘a little, moderately but not very’. It has a similar meaning to ‘rather’ or ‘fairly’:
That shirt makes you lookquitesmart.(+ adjective)
She comes to visit youquiteoften, doesn’t she?(+ frequency adverb)
He walkedquitefast until they were out of sight.(+ adverb)
Quite+ non-gradable adjectives and adverbs
When we usequitewith a non-gradable adjective or adverb (an extreme adjective or adverb has a maximum and/or minimum, for exampleright – wrong), it usually means ‘very’, ‘totally’ or ‘completely’:
The scenery wasquiteincredible.
Helen had said the food was awful here. She wasquiteright.
Steve Jobs, the chairman of Pixar, isquiteobviously fond of computers.
In speaking we give this use ofquiteas much stress as the adjective or adverb.
Quite+ nouns
We can usequite+a/anbefore a noun to give it more emphasis or importance:
There wasquite acrowd at the party.
It makesquite adifference when the wind isn’t blowing.
When we usequite+a/an+ adjective + noun it means the same as ‘a little or a lot but not completely’:
It’squite abig company. Around 200 staff.
It’squite agood book.(It’s rather good but not excellent.)
Quite a bit,quite a few,quite a lot
We often usequitewitha bit,a fewanda lotto refer to large amounts and quantities:
You should ask Mez for some advice. He knowsquite a bitabout gardening.
A:We boughtquite a lotof new furniture, didn’t we?
B:Yeah,quite a bit.
There werequite a fewof us at the meeting.
We also usequite a bitandquite a lotto mean ‘often’:
Do you come herequite a bit?
I used to go sailingquite a lot.
See also:
Determiners (the, my,some,this)
Quite+a lot/a bit+ comparatives
We often usequite a lotandquite a bitwith a comparative adjective or adverb to mean ‘much’:
We went to Italy when I wasquite a bit younger.
The new truck isquitea lot heavierthan the old model.
Quite+ verbs
In informal speaking, we often usequitewithlike,enjoy,understandandagreeto talk about our opinions or preferences. Depending on the context, it can mean ‘a bit’, ‘a lot’ or ‘totally’. We usually put it in the normal mid position for adverbs (between the subject and the main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or afterbeas a main verb):
Iquite liketennis but I can never play proper games because I can’t serve.(I like tennis a bit.)
Iquite enjoysitting here and watching people go by.(I like it a lot.)
Iquite agree. You’re absolutely right.(I agree completely.)
I canquite understandthat the news would have upset her.(I totally understand.)
Not quitemeaning ‘not completely’
We often usenotquiteto mean ‘not completely’. We can use it with adjectives, adverbs, nouns, non-finite clauses, prepositional phrases andwh-clauses:
The door wasnot quiteclosed.(+ adjective)
The news wasnot quiteas bad as I had expected.(+ comparative phrase)
It’snot quitehalf past nine.(+ time phrase)
She hesitated,not quiteknowing what to do.(+ non-finite clause)
That’snot quitewhat I meant.(+wh-clause)
We can also usenot quiteas a short response:
A:Are you ready?
B:No,not quite.
We can usenot quitewith verbs:
I’m slightly concerned and don’tquiteunderstand why he didn’t come.
I haven’tquitegot the money to get my laptop yet.
See also:
Quietorquite?
Rather