Not in AE. In AE, "quite recently" means "very recently". If you compare "very recently" with "recently", "recently" happened farther back in time than "very recently."Does "quite recently" refer to a more distant past than "recently"?
You're right. I've learned from British members in this forum that "quite" can mean "somewhat" or "rather" in BE.I think that there is an AE/BE difference in the use of "quite".
You're right. I've learned from British members in this forum that "quite" can mean "somewhat" or "rather" in BE.
I agree with you, Andy, especially about "quite often" being less often than "often." My partner, on the other hand--a Canadian like me--is on PaulQ's side and insists that "quite recently" is more recent than "recently." It would be very strange if this were to break down on strictly idiosyncratic lines rather than BE / AE, but so far it seems to be going that way!You can see from my and PaulQ's posts that we disagree. I regard "recently" as more recent than "quite recently". I do not regard "quite" in this context as being an intensifier. Similarly, "I see him often" means seeing him more frequently than "I see him quite often", whereas PaulQ's post would suggest that he regards "I see him quite often" as seeing him more frequently than "I see him often".
I already said, in post #7How do you see:...
I gave a list of time phrases in order of duration. I would have thought that ample explanation. Your example conversation here is, frankly, contrived and, therefore, pointless as a basis for discussion. Anybody who says at a police interview "It was quite a while ago", followed when asked to be more specific by "Oh, It was a while ago" is prevaricating, not providing information. I would not attempt to interpret his answer because it is clearly meaningless. Your previous dialogues are not much better, but I have already told you how I interpret each time phrase when it is used in a normal, as opposed to artificial, conversation.To be fair, in post #7 you gave a bald list but did not give an explanation or context. I can only imagine:
Policeman: "When did you last see Jim Brown?"
Witness: "It was quite a while ago"
Policeman: "What do you mean?"
Witness: "Oh, It was a while ago."
which seems strange, if we are agreed that "quite" adds something.
You wrote"A long time ago", "some time ago" = "quite a while ago", "a while ago", "a little while ago", "fairly recently" = "quite recently", "recently", "very recently", in that order.
After your comment I wrotewe have in increasing length of time:
"I saw him quite recently."
"I saw him recently."
(i) The quite is emphatic, thus it reduces the time for adverbs that indicate a short time and increases it for adverbs that indicate a long time.
I can't see what more there is to add. We disagree about the role of "quite" in such sentences.You can see from my and PaulQ's posts that we disagree. I regard "recently" as more recent than "quite recently". I do not regard "quite" in this context as being an intensifier. Similarly, "I see him often" means seeing him more frequently than "I see him quite often", whereas PaulQ's post would suggest that he regards "I see him quite often" as seeing him more frequently than "I see him often".