What is the difference between Fairly and Rather
1. 'Fairly' and 'Rather' are adverbs. They are used to express' to a moderate degree.'2. 'Fairly' is used with a positive or pleasant idea.
'Rather' is used with a negative or an unpleasant idea.
Examples :
The crow was fairly clever, but the fox was rather foolish.
Hari is fairly rich.
Ram is rather poor.
I did fairly well in the examination, but he did rather badly.
3. 'Fairly' is used with the favourable adjectives, or adverbs, as : well, nice, good, clever, wise, pleasant.
This idea is fairly nice.
4. 'Rather' is used with the unfavourable adjectives or adverbs, as :
ugly, bad, silly, foolish, stupid, cunning.
His hand writing is rather ugly.
5. With adjectives or adverbs such as 'fast', 'slow', 'thick', 'thin', 'hot', 'cold', etc. which are not in themselves 'favourable' or 'unfavourable', one can express approval by using 'fairly' and disapproval by using 'rather', as-
The tea is fairly hot. (The speaker likes such hot tea.)
The tea is rather hot. (The tea is a little too hot for the speaker.)
Some more examples -
1. It is rather cold today, I must put on an overcoat.
2. Be careful. That knife is rather sharp.
3. I showed him a book and he was fairly interested.
4. We have had a fairly good holiday.
5. she is rather a foolish kind of girl.
6. You can speak English fairly well.
7. The film was rather bad.
