student asking question

What is different between "pretty old" and "very old"? Why does she use "pretty", not "very"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Pretty" in this case means fairly, somewhat, or a little. The word "very" is usually stronger than "pretty", and is used to describe something that is a high degree of something. So "pretty old" here means that the animal is old, but it is less old than one which is "very old."

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