Learning English

Sam talks about uses of 'pretty'.

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• How to use 'position'
• How to use 'potential'
• Different uses of 'figure'

Common uses of 'pretty'

Pretty as an adjective  means 'attractive, especially when talking about girls or women'.

• Margo always tells her daughter that she's pretty.
• Jacob's mum is really pretty.

Pretty is also used to talk about things that are 'pleasant to look at in a delicate or charming way'. While this is often connected to females, it can also be used to describe something like 'a view'.

• There's a very pretty view at the top of that hill.
• My friend moved out of the city and bought a pretty cottage in the countryside.

As an adverb, pretty can be an informal way of saying 'quite' or 'rather'.

• The house was built recently, it's pretty new.
• I enjoyed that film, it was pretty good.

We can also use pretty to give emphasis.

• We went to bed at 2am, so we were pretty tired.
• I'm pretty angry right now, so don't talk to me.

We can use pretty with the words 'much' or 'well'. In this case, it means 'almost'.

• I think we've mentioned pretty well everything.
• I guess we’re pretty much finished.

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