Talk:pretty much

British citations

It's interesting that all three citations are British English, since I see this phrase as fairly characteristically American. Certainly in the stand-alone form (as a sort of interjection) it doesn't seem to occur in BrE. Equinox ◑ 20:49, 17 February 2015 (UTC)

pretty much of the time

This occurs in a famous passage from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time." It's never seemed grammatical to me, though. It can't be an adverb here, either. Equinox ◑ 01:35, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

@Equinox: OED pretty : adjective vs adverb --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:55, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

@Backinstadiums: Yes, I know what an adjective is and what an adverb is. Your link doesn't explain the unusual sentence that I quote above, does it? Equinox ◑

pretty well

Pretty well is a variant --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:39, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

also (British English pretty nearly) and (North American English pretty near) --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:47, 24 November 2020 (UTC)