TESOL/Gradable words
You can say "very good" and "absolutely fantastic." Why can't you say "very fantastic" or "absolutely good?"
Some words in English are essentially very strong in meaning or indicate a category in which membership is absolute. For example, "perfect" is the extreme of "good," "freezing" is the extreme of "cold," and "hilarious" is the extreme of "funny." These extreme words are known as non-gradable, and words that can be modified in degree are known as gradable.
Mechanics
[edit | edit source]Absolutely and completely
[edit | edit source]Non-gradable words describing extremes or absolutely take "absolutely" or "completely." You cannot use "absolutely" or "completely" with words that are not extreme in meaning.
| Gradable | Non-gradable |
|---|---|
| very cold | |
| absolutely freezing |
- They're completely dead.
They're very dead - That's completely impossible.
That's very impossible.
Quite
[edit | edit source]The word quite is unusual in that it can be used for both gradable and non-gradable words.
- Today is quite cold/freezing.
- Your cooking is quite good/delicious.
- I was quite surprised/amazed.
Examples
[edit | edit source]Below is a table of pairs of gradable and non-gradable words:
| Gradable | Non-gradable |
|---|---|
| good | delicious |
| good |
|
| funny | hilarious |
| cold | freezing |
| strange | bizarre |
| special | unique |
| bad |
|
| surprising |
|
| surprised |
|
| hungry | starving |
| hard | impossible |
| hot |
|
Quiz
[edit | edit source]Turn these plain sentences into stronger ones by changing the word in italics.