Quiet or Quite?

The words quiet (two syllables) and quite (one syllable) are frequently confused.

Quiet! Please be quite. Quiet!

I encountered this bit of dialogue in a mystery published by W.W. Norton. A character is being kidnapped and the words are spoken by one of the kidnappers. Obviously all three words are meant to be quiet.

Quiet can be used as an adjective meaning “of little activity,” or as a noun meaning “tranquility” or “silence.”

After lunch the children enjoyed an hour of quiet play. (adjective)
We enjoyed the quiet of the countryside. (noun)

Quite is an adverb and has the sense of “totally” or “completely.”

She was quite exhausted after the warm-up exercise.

Quiet can also be used as a verb meaning “to cause to be quiet.”

The man behind us shouted “Quiet down, can’t you?”
The leader quieted the protesters so the mayor could be heard.

Note: the words “quieten” and “quietened” are not standard American usage.

You can receive our articles for free on your email inbox, with more interesting words, expressions, grammar and writing tips. Just enter your email below:

4 Responses to “Quiet or Quite?”

  1. Tom on September 2nd, 2007 3:23 am

    No they’re not. These two words are never confused. You’re kidding right? This would only happen as a typo.

  2. Maeve on September 2nd, 2007 3:50 am

    Yes, it was a typo, but there it was, in a printed book.
    Someone mixed them up.

  3. Daniel on September 2nd, 2007 9:29 am

    Tom, if the confusion happened on a printed book, I think it could very easily happen around the Internet, don’t you think :) ?

  4. Zach Everson on September 3rd, 2007 8:52 pm

    “Quite” should be avoided as it rarely adds meaning.

Got something to say?





Sponsors

Online Invoicing For Freelancers Put Your Writing Skills to work Why I recommend Doreo Hosting Content rich web directory Premium WordPress Themes free images for blogs

Popular Articles

Recent Articles