A quick one
I’ve recently been editing tourism textbooks. While looking over a chapter dealing with the various modes of transport available to travellers, I came across two words that cause a bit of confusion: ‘quick’ and ‘fast’.
TL;DR
Although they seem to be interchangeable and native English speakers have little difficulty choosing the correct option when speaking, quick and fast are often misused in writing. Maybe this is because people tend to think ‘quick’ sounds more formal than ‘fast’. I can’t be sure though.
The basic difference is this:
- Quick specifies a short (or shorter-than-expected) period of time
- Fast refers to rate
You can see the contract between the two when you look at the synonyms for each.
| Quick | Fast |
| Swift Rapid Prompt Hasty Brief Sudden | Speedy High-speed Whirlwind Nimble Brisk Swift |
Linguistically, ‘fast’ acts as an adjective and an adverb. ‘Quick’ is an adjective, becoming ‘quickly’ in adverb form.
The fast car. Adjective – describes the car
The boy ran fast. Adverb – describes the run
The quick fox jumped. Adjective – describes the fox
The fox jumped quickly. Adverb – describes the jump
I’ll do a piece on adverbs and adjectives another time because I’m not in the mood for parts of speech at the moment. All you need to know for now is that adjectives describe nouns and pronouns, while adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
But here’s a problem with the examples above: why is it a ‘quick fox’ but a ‘fast car’?
From what I’ve found, it seems that ‘fast’ as an adjective is preferred for nouns powered by engines or electricity. All swift things with a pulse are ‘quick’.
TL;DR
- If it’s moving from point A to point B at speed, it’s ‘fast’
- If it happens in a short period of time, it’s ‘quick’
Featured image courtesy of chuttersnap on Unsplash
