pretty

«pretty» in Mova's school dictionary: Nice to look at; attractive in a gentle way: «a pretty… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (pretty, prettier, prettiest); adverb (pretty)

meaning for a pupil

1) (adjective) Nice to look at; attractive in a gentle way: «a pretty dress». tree →

2) (adverb) Fairly, quite, rather: «pretty good», «pretty cold». tree →

3) (adverb, informal) Very nearly: «pretty much the same». tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday talk, «pretty» as an adverb is very common: «I'm pretty sure», «it's pretty easy». In stories, it describes flowers, places and people. Phrases: «pretty much», «pretty well», «pretty sure», «pretty as a picture».

examples

• What a pretty garden! tree →
• She wore a pretty blue dress. tree →
• The test was pretty easy. tree →
• I'm pretty sure it's going to rain. tree →
• It's pretty cold outside, so wear a coat. tree →
• The two drawings are pretty much the same. tree →
• The village is prettiest in spring. tree →
• She was pretty and delicate indeed. tree →

note

Said «PRIT-ee». As an adverb it makes an adjective weaker or a little stronger: «pretty good» = quite good, not excellent. Comparatives: prettier, prettiest.

In the corpora

• They look delicious, but some of the most dangerous plants in Europe have the prettiest berries.
• People are sensitive about how they look: wrinkles, baldness, being short or not pretty, or getting forgetful with age.
• "Homely" in American English means plain or not pretty; in British English it means cosy and home-like.
• Never pick up a cone shell or blue-ringed octopus; they are small and pretty but deadly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pretty» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.