Introducción

Se usan los adverbios de grado para describir el grado (intensidad o cantidad) de un adjetivo, adverbio o verbo.

Se puede usar “not” para formar una frase negativa con algunos adverbios de grado.

Ejemplos

• Para expresar un grado excesivo:
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "The book is too long."
    • "The book is not too long."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "She spoke too loudly."
    • "She didn't speak too loudly."
  • con un verbo:
    • ("too" con un verbo significa "as well" o "also" y no es un adverbio de grado. "He played the piano too.")
  
  
• El grado máximo:
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "Their styles of painting are completely different."
    • "Their styles of painting are not completely different."
  • con un adverbio:
    • (No se usa “completely” con adverbios)
  • con un verbo:
    • "They completely finished the meal."
    • "They did not completely finish the meal."
      or:
    • "They finished the meal completely."
    • "They didn’t finish the meal completely."
  
  
• En una muy gran medida/un gran grado:
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "The walk was extremely tiring."
    • (normalmente no usamos “not”)
  • con un adverbio:
    • "She ran extremely slowly."
    • (normalmente no usamos “not”)
  • con un verbo:
    • (No se usa “extremely” con verbos.)
  
  
• En mayor / menor grado que todos los demás (consulte también la ficha de trabajo comparativos y superlativos):
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "That film was the most interesting."
    • "That film was the least interesting."
    • "That film was not the most interesting."
    • "That film was not the least interesting."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "They prepared the most carefully."
    • "They prepared the least carefully."
    • "They didn’t prepare the most carefully."
    • "They didn’t prepare the least carefully."
  • con un verbo:
    • "I like chocolate the most."
    • "I like chocolate the least."
    • "I don’t like chocolate the most."
    • "I don’t like chocolate the least."
  
  
• En mayor /menor grado que uno u otros(consulte también la ficha de trabajo comparativos y superlativos) (no se suele usar “not”):
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "The second exam was more difficult than the first."
    • "The second exam was less difficult than the first."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "Can you speak more loudly please?"
    • "Can you speak less loudly please?"
  • con un verbo:
    • "She reads more than her brother."
    • "She reads less than her brother."
  
  
• En gran medida:
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "The countryside is so beautiful."
    • "The countryside is very beautiful."
    • "The countryside is not very beautiful."
    • "The countryside is really beautiful."
    • "The countryside is not really beautiful."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "She paints so well."
    • "She paints very well."
    • "She paints really well."
    • "She doesn't paint so well."
    • "She doesn't paint very well."
  • con un verbo:
    • "She really enjoyed the film."
    • "She really didn’t enjoy the film."
    • (Menos común: "She so enjoyed the film.")
    • (NO se usa "very” con verbos.)
    • (No se usa "not" con "so".)
  
  
• En grado moderado (normalmente no se usa “not”):
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "Their room is quite messy."
    • "Their room is fairly messy."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "She talks quite quietly."
    • "She talks fairly quietly."
  • con un verbo:
    • "I quite like swimming."
    • (No se usa “fairly” con verbos).
  
  
• En grado suficiente:
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "Their house is big enough."
    • "Their house is not big enough."
  • con un adverbio:
    • "He works quickly enough."
    • "He doesn't work quickly enough."
  • con un verbo:
    • "They cooked enough for everyone."
    • "They didn't cook enough for everyone."
  
  
• En grado algo menos que suficiente (normalmente no se usa “not):
  • con un adjetivo:
    • "Dinner is almost ready."
    • "Dinner is nearly ready."
  • con un adverbio (para comparar):
    • "She finished almost as quickly."
    • "She finished nearly as quickly."
  • con un verbo:
    • "He has nearly completed the project."
    • "He has almost completed the project."

Forma - afirmativa

Se pone generalmente el adverbio de grado antes del adjetivo, adverbio o verbo principal (después de los verbos auxiliares), pero en algunos casos se pone después, como se muestra en la tabla:

significado	adverbio de grado	adjetivo	adverbio	verbo
grado excesivo	too	too long	too loudly	- ("I play football too" = "I play football as well")
el grado máximo	completely	completely different	-	completely finish or finish completely
en grado muy intenso	extremely	extremely tiring	extremely slowly	-
en mayor / menor grado que todos los demás	most / least	the most / least interesting	the most / least carefully	like (the) most
en mayor / menor grado que uno u más que otros	more / less	more / less difficult	more / less loudly	read more / less
en gran medida	very	very beautiful	very well	-
	really	really beautiful	really well	really enjoy
	so	so beautiful	so well	so enjoy
en grado moderado	quite	quite messy	quite quietly	quite like
en grado suficiente o el esperado	enough	hot enough	quickly enough	cook enough
en grado menos que el suficiente / el esperado	almost	almost ready	almost as quickly	almost complete
	nearly	nearly finished	nearly as quickly	nearly complete

Forma - negativa

Si se usa "not" con un adverbio de grado, el significado negativo es para el adverbio de grado y no describe necesariamente lo opuesto del adjetivo, adverbio o un verbo que describe:

• "The book is not very long."
  Esto no significa necesariamente que el libro sea corto; sino que significa que el libro no es largo en gran medida (podría ser largo, bastante largo, o incluso corto, dependiendo del contexto o el tono que se use).

Forma

Con adjetivos, se usa la palabra "not" antes del adverbio de grado.

Con adverbios y verbos, se usa la palabra "not" en la forma negativa del verbo.

Con los verbos, se puede poner el adverbio de grado antes del verbo principal y después de los verbos auxiliares, o después del verbo principal (por ejemplo, "She hasn't completely finished the meal." o "She hasn't finished the meal completely."):

significado	adverbio de grado	adjetivo	adverbio	verbo
grado excesivo	too	not too long	not speak too loudly	-
el grado máximo	completely	not completely different	-	not completely finish or not finish completely
en mayor / menor grado que todos los demás	most / least	not the most / least interesting	not the most / least carefully	e.g. I like this one (the) most
en mayor / menor grado que todos los demás	most / least	not the most / least interesting	not the most / least carefully	not like the most
en gran medida	very	not very beautiful	not paint very well	-
	really	not really beautiful	not paint really well	not really enjoy
	so	so beautiful	not paint so well	-
en grado suficiente o el esperado	enough	not hot enough	not quickly enough	not cook enough

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"not really" puede también significar "not in reality":

• "He's not a really good cook."
  Significado: Él no es un muy buen cocinero en gran medida.
  vs.
  "He isn't really a good cook."
  Significado: la realidad es que no es un buen cocinero.
  
  
• "She isn´t really interested in the book."
  Significado: la realidad es que ella no está interesada en el libro
  
  
• "He isn´t really going to the party."
  Significado: la realidad es que no no va a asistir a la fiesta.

Más práctica

Complete las frases con la respuesta correcta de a, b, c ó d:
.

1)

That's a lovely jacket. It ____ you.
 

suits really

very suits

so suit

really suits

 

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2)

They didn’t read the instructions ____.
 

not so careful

very carefully

so careful

not very carefully

 

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3)

It's the ____ book I’ve ever read.
 

so interesting

more interesting

really interesting

most interesting

 

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4)

He didn't arrive ____ to catch the train.
 

early enough

nearly early

almost enough

very early

 

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5)

The deadline has passed. It's ____ late to apply for the job.
 

really

too

very

so

 

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6)

Could you walk ____ please?
 

most slowly

too slowly

enough slowly

more slowly

 

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Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

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