Pretty

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pretty |ˈpritē|:  adjective ( -tier , -tiest )  attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful or handsome. Synonyms: attractive, lovely, good-looking, nice-looking, personable, fetching, prepossessing, appealing, charming, delightful, cute, as pretty as a picture; Scottish bonny; informal easy on the eye; literary beauteous; archaic fair, comely

—Apple Dictionary Application

This is a pretty sunset (picture taken by Cindy). Cindy is a pretty woman, as pretty now as when we shared our first kiss thirty years ago. Nature is resplendent with pretty flowers and animals. It is often said that beauty, what is pretty, is in the eye of the beholder. Each of us has a concept of pretty that we apply to a myriad of things. Pretty as an adjective in the English language is widely used and its meanings widely accepted. But there are three other uses for the word pretty; as a noun, as a verb, and as an adverb, each originating from the same ancient root but given different meanings at different times, so much so that each meaning set stands alone as no longer related to the others. As a noun, a pretty is a rather simple concept to understand; "He gave me a pretty, (an attractive gift)." As a verb, it means making oneself attractive. As an adverb it can mean quite, rather, somewhat, fairly, reasonably, comparatively, relatively to a fairly high degree. Its four incarnations present a problem for non-English speakers—and as an adverb, for me.

My fourth grade teacher was a no nonsense maiden lady who had definite concepts that she wanted (demanded) us to learn. Midway through the year she decided that a class newsletter could be a vehicle for us budding writers of the English language to demonstrate our developing literary skill to our parents. She appointed me editor. Proudly I submitted my first editorial, which she read immediately and then summoned me to an audience. She had circled in red a term that I had used three times in my essay, pretnear. 

"What does this mean?" she demanded.

"It is a contraction," I replied, proud of my correct use of a part of speech we had recently learned, "for pretty nearly."

"Do you mean beautiful nearly, lovely nearly?"

"Ah, no," I replied, intimidated now.

"Know the meaning of the words you use, be precise," and with that I was sent, red-faced and ashamed, back to my desk.

I had no idea that pretnear was a colloquialism, quite common in my little corner of the world, or that pretty was an adverb as well as an adjective, a noun, and a verb. Stripped of my innocence and firmly enlightened by this experience that still haunts me at the age of 79, I cannot use pretty as an adverb when I write, and correct myself when I use it in speech. Such is the power and authority of an early learning experience.

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