【英国问答】Approximately, Roughly, About和Nearly的辨析(1/2)

英语自学网

203x15224.gif

approximately, roughly, about, nearly的辨析
全文听写，英式拼法，每周二四六更新
HINTS：
Samad
注意双引号的使用Hi Samad. I wonder why you asked this question. Are you by any chance writing a report? All of the words you list above are adverbs which describe a quantity or variation in quantity. Well, these words are known as degree adverbs and one of the differences between the words you mention is their degree of formality, which would affect the times you use them.
Approximately, about, nearly and roughly are most usually used to modify measurements or quantities. And I'm going to start with the adverb which is more formal in tone, which is approximately. Just listen to these examples.
Approximately half of the residents in the survey stated that they agreed with the government's plan to reduce traffic in the city centre.
Police say that the main suspect charged in the case escaped from custody approximately 12 days ago.
I think Samad, you'll realise that these examples could be part of an academic paper or an official report. It's not impossible to use approximately in speech, but you'd be far more likely to use roughly, nearly or about in everyday situations and the rest of my explanation will look at the use of these three adverbs.
Jane told me that she spends nearly 1/3 of her salary on rent.
I guess there’ll be roughly thirty people going to the party tonight.
Because the traffic was bad, it took about four hours to get to my aunt's house.
By about five o'clock, the library was deserted.