How various pronunciations of "pretty" before an adjective indicates differnt meanings?

Question

I read this in a book. For instance, "I'm pretty hungry." could be pronounce in two ways, hence two different meanings of 'pretty'.

Answer 1

I think there is some confusion about your question. The book might be referring to one of two things. The bigger difference is the first one, but I think you are asking about the second.

1) "Pretty" can be used as an adjective, meaning "attractive, beautiful", as when someone says "She's a pretty girl."
It can ALSO be used as an adverb, in combination with an adjective. In this case it means "fairly, moderately, to a reasonable degree". It does NOT mean the same thing as "very".

And example would be "I'm pretty hungry" meaning "I am fairly hungry."

(This is not the same as saying "I am pretty and hungry". In this sentence "pretty" and "hungry" would both be adjectives.)


2) But the example you give is of the adverb, not the adjective use. And the adverb and adjective are pronounced exactly the same way.

So perhaps the book is referring to how putting a special EMPHASIS on the adverb when you speak can change the meaning of the sentence slightly.

Normally when you use "pretty" as an adverb, the main emphasis is on the adjective that follows. So, if someone says "It was a pretty good day" they are being positive. The idea is that they are satisfied with how good it was, perhaps even surprised at how it was better than they expected.

But sometimes a person will strongly emphasize the word "pretty", saying "It was PRETTY good day." In that case, the person is emphasizing that it was only "fairly good" INSTEAD of "very good". They are suggesting that the day could have been better, and maybe they are complaining, saying they think it SHOULD have been better. Or they are not really sure. They actually think it was NOT a very good day, but they are trying to be positive about it anyway.

So, this EMPHASIZED use of "pretty" makes what you are saying with the adjective WEAKER not stronger. (This is almost the opposite of what another answer suggested.)

Answer 2

Interesting point, which native speakers rarely think about. When 'pretty' has a normal emphasis, it means somewhat more than usual, as in pretty broke or pretty hungry - not quite extremely but getting there. When 'pretty' is strongly emphasized the severity of the following adjective is increaased to an alarming level demanding immediate attention, and is often pronounced 'PRIT-ty' instead of 'priddy.'