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Thread ID: 109104 2010-04-24 06:07:00 What's the difference between "fast" and "quick"? Renmoo (66) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
879637 2010-04-24 09:31:00 To confuse Jim lad even more, see swift, speedy, speed, rapid, celerity and variants thereon..........

dictionary.reference.com

dictionary.reference.com

dictionary.reference.com

dictionary.reference.com

dictionary.reference.com
Terry Porritt (14)
879638 2010-04-24 09:33:00 About 15 seconds.

Zing!
bob_doe_nz (92)
879639 2010-04-24 10:07:00 You would say don't drive too fast, but if you wanted to use quick in that sentence you would change quick to quickly.

I sympathise Jamuz...The English language she is a B******
Marnie (4574)
879640 2010-04-24 10:24:00 Stepping aside from the strict linguistic meanings, which are somewhat synonymous, in general or common usage, 'fast' is usually related to speed of a physical movement, while quick is more commonly associated with the passage of time.

A simple example might be the fast car that produced a quick lap time.

It's all a bit nebulous really.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
879641 2010-04-24 10:52:00 I dated a girl once who was a little of both - but I digress .

Actually if you want to use the word 'quick', and make it a descriptive of HOW one drives, it needs to have 'ly' added to the end .

As in: "Do not drive too quickly" . Or: "Do not drive quickly" . One cannot drive 'quick' . That's bad Englifh . It is to be converted to an adjective* there, if indeed you sought to attribute some extra power or presence to the verb 'drive' .

One may drive fast in a car or fly fast in an airplane, but not as a descriptive like you asked .

'Fast' in that case, describes how the act of flying or driving was done, and is not the action word in the sentence, but an attributed value to the verb but not a modifier, which is another part of a different rule in the language concerning adverbs .

Typically however, in the US, 'quick' is something that can go around corners or accelerate very rapidly, and 'fast' is more aptly applied to the top speed or terminal velocity of a vehicle or whatever means of travel you choose .

* Adjective: a word that expresses an attribute of something

NEXT WEEK: Gerunds - Friend Or Foe?
But . . . at the end of the day, what is the different between "don't drive too quickly" and "don't drive too fast"?
Renmoo (66)
879642 2010-04-24 10:53:00 Not to mention that something can be 'stuck fast' i.e. immovable, but cannot be 'stuck quick'. It just doesn't work.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Renmoo (66)
879643 2010-04-24 12:04:00 Colourfast is not the same as a quick tint R2x1 (4628)
879644 2010-04-24 12:14:00 Having been on a fast to lose weight she was hurt to the quick when he said she was too fat. zqwerty (97)
879645 2010-04-24 12:28:00 I like the way you can down down a tree, and then chop it up..... Metla (12)
879646 2010-04-24 22:26:00 Those of us who are native English speakers know intuitively when to use "quick" and when to use "fast", but people who've learned English as a second language must find this sort of nuance very difficult.

But the reason we NEED quick is that if we didn't have it, what would replace this:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
TideMan (4279)
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