Get a move on!

“Quick” and “fast”

A basic way to talk about speed is with the adjectives quick and fast. They’re similar in meaning but not exactly the same.

If something is “quick”, it happens in short a period of time: you can have a quick snack, you can ask a quick question or you could have a quick look at your e-mails.

If something is “fast”, it happens at high speed: you can take a fast train, you can drive in the fast lane or you can eat fast food.

The adverb of “quick” is “quickly”, but “fast” is both an adjective and an adverb:

• Wait a minute. I’ll get changed quickly.
• You’re driving far too fast. “Fast” can also mean “firmly”:
• The boat was stuck fast on the mudbank. In this sense, it’s used in the phrase fast asleep:
• I called her name, but she was fast asleep.

“Speed”

You can also use the noun speed. Some people drive at high speed or at top speed (as fast as possible) or at breakneck speed (dangerously or extremely fast):

• He was driving at breakneck speed and didn’t see the sudden bend in the road.

To talk about precise speed, you can use the phrase kilometres per hour or (in conversation) kilometres an hour:

• You’re driving too fast. There’s a 30-kilometres-an-hour speed limit here.

In conversation, people often use the verb do to say at what speed they’re going:

• When the police stopped her, she was doing at least 160.

If you’re in a car or on foot, you can speed up (go faster):

• She always starts the race slowly and then speeds up towards the end.

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The verb “whizz” sounds like what it means (imagine the sound of something flying past you) – this is called “onomatopoeia”. Other onomatopoeic verbs for things moving fast are “zoom”, “roar”, “whoosh”, “zip” and “zap”.