1. Being a nurse is a quite/ pretty stressful job.
2. He has rather/fairly a funny name.
3. Jane is rather/quite more athletic than Susan.
4. She stayed out rather/fairly too late last night.
5. That story was quite/rather true.
6. She is quite/fairly a friendly woman.
7. I didn't expect to enjoy the film, but it was fairly/rather brilliant.
8. He is rather/fairly good at his job, but he sometimes makes mistakes.
9. It was a fairly/quite interesting book, but it wasn't the best I've read.
10. This tin opener doesn't work. It's fairly/quite useless.
11. It was pretty/rather a long way from the station to the hotel.
12. It was rather/pretty a waste of time watering the plants. It's raining now.
TASK 13. Explain the difference between the pairs of adjectives given below. Write one sentence or situation to show their difference in context. Follow the example.
Example. afraid – frightened
afraid – feeling fear, frightened; used as a predicative only;
frightened – afraid, feeling fear; used both as a predicative and as an attribute.
e.g. Fred started to feel afraid/ frightened of going out alone at night.
I looked at the frightened child encouragingly.
1. alike – similar
2. manly - mankind
3. skilful - skilled
4. alone – lonely
5. worthy - worthwhile
6. childish – childlike
7. confident – confidential
8. dead – deadly
9. drunk – drunken
10. former – previous
11. gold – golden
12. graceful – gracious
13. healthy – well
14. imaginary – imaginative
15. ill – sick
16. inner – inward
17. silk – silky – silken
18. silver – silvery
19. swelled – swollen
20. sensitive – sensible
21. outer – outward
22. wooden – wooded
23. worthless – unworthy
24. lively – alive
25. especial – special
26. shrunk – shrunken
27. neighbouring – neighbourhood
28. needful – needy
29. effective – efficient
30. economic – economical
31. politic – political
TASK 14. Revision: adjectives and adverbs. Choose the right option.
Part 1
My (eldest/ oldest) sister's only child is a boy. His name is Tim. Even when he was very young he was a (manly/ mankind) little fellow, a (skilful/ skilled) and (confident/ confidential) horseman, and a (dead/deadly) marksman with an air rifle. He was (a lively/ an alive) child.
Throughout his (awake/waking) hours he was engaged in (worthy/ worthwhile) activities, and even when he was (asleep/ sleeping), his (imaginary/ imaginative) brain seemed to be at work, because often he would wake up with some (sensitive/sensible) idea. He was always a (healthy/ fit) boy. When any of his (ill/sick) friends asked him for help with their homework he was always (sorry/sympathetic) and did his best to help them.
Tim had one (especial/special) friend - Dick, a much (elder/ older) boy, who had one (shrunk/shrunken) leg and who lived in one of the (wooden/wooded) (neighbouring/ neighbourhood) houses.
Dick's father was always (drunk/ drunken), so the family lived in (needful/ needy) circumstances. Dick's mother was very (sensible/ sensitive), so when Tim went to the house, he often found her with her eyes (swelled/swollen) with tears. He used to try to comfort her in his (childish/childlike) way, but he could not be of any (effective/efficient) help to her, because his own family's (economic/ economical) position was not a very good one. His father worked for a (politic/ political) party, but he had no (official/ officious) position in it.
Part 2
There was a ring at my door late yesterday evening and when I opened it there was (an ashamed/a shamefaced) girl standing outside. She seemed (afraid/ frightened) of something and not at all (confident/ confidential) that I would welcome her at that late hour. She had rosy cheeks, long (gold/golden) hair and a slim (graceful/gracious) figure. She had long (silk/ silken/ silky) eyelashes but her eyes looked (swelled/ swollen) as if she had been crying.
‘May I come in?" she said. Her voice was (silver/silvery) and, although she couldn’t have been less than 18 years old, there was something sweetly (childish/ childlike) about her when she spoke. I am very (sensible/ sensitive) to personality and I felt that this girl and I had very (alike/ similar) characters. She seemed to sense my (inner/inward) sympathy for her, and suddenly her (afraid/frightened) air disappeared and her control, which had only been (outer/outward), vanished. She became a very (alone/lonely) girl in need of comfort and reassurance. She told me that her father was (drunk/ drunken) and was threatening to kill her and her (ill/sick) (older/elder) sister. They had just moved into a hut on a (wooded/wooden) hill which was (neighbouring/ in our neighbourhood), and she knew nobody here. Their (former/previous) home had been a hundred miles away. I gathered that her father was (a worthless/ an unworthy) actor whose (drunk/ drunken) habits had led him to (economic/ economical) ruin and constant (sick/ ill) health. The girl's mother committed suicide because her (sensible/sensitive) soul could no longer stand the degradation of her lot.
I am a reasonably (imaginary/ imaginative) woman, and I shuddered as I contemplated that desperation that must have driven her to take her own life.