Gradable Adjectives

Gradable adjective: they refer to qualities which can be weaker or stronger. E.g.: important, slow, valuable, vigorous, etc.

Gradable adjectives

To make a gradable adjective stronger we can use:

Extremely, incredibly, most (formal), pretty (informal), rather, really, terribly, very. E.g.: Its pretty obvious that hes not interested. The talk was most interesting. I thought he was rather nice.

Gradable adjectives

IMPORTANT:

We cannot use ABSOLUTELY with gradable adjectives.

Gradable adjectives

To make a gradable adjective weaker we can use:

(little) bit, fairly, quite, relatively, slightly, somewhat (formal) E.g.: Hes quite rich, but not a millionaire. We were somewhat disappointed with the service. The hotel was fairly cheap.

Ungradable adjectives

They indicate extreme or absolute qualities. E.g.: brilliant, correct, disastrous, exhausted, furious, identical, perfect, unique, etc.

Ungradable adjectives

They can be stressed using:

absolutely, completely, quite, really, totally, utterly. E.g.: They were absolutely furious. This vase is quite unique.

Ungradable adjectives

Absolutely cannot be used with all ungradable adjectives.

In some cases, completely, totally or utterly are preferred.

Ungradable adjectives

We can also use that something is very nearly in an abolute/extreme state using almost, nearly, practically, virtually.
E.g.: The tank is almost empty.

The two vases are virtually identical.

Compare

The beach was fairly empty. The beach was absolutely empty.

Some adjectives can be gradable or ungradable depending on the context.

Adverb + adjective collocation

bitterly cold, disappointed, opposed completely different, incomprehensible, new, sure deeply ashamed, attached, divided, unhappy entirely beneficial, different, satisfactory, unexpected. heavily armed, dependent, polluted highly contagious, critical, intelligent, likely, sensitive painfully aware, obvious, sensitive, slow perfectly balanced, normal, safe, serious seriously damaged, hurt totally harmless, inadequate, unbelievable utterly different, disastrous, impossible, useless widely available, held, publicised, used