As for my preference, it depends on what information is being requested.
If
the question is about who had the greater maximum speed, then "faster" is
the
logical choice. However, if the question is about who could reach a
certain
speed soonest, then "quicker" wins. (Pun intended ;-P)

Using the car example, the Bugatti is a fast car because it has a high top
speed; it is faster than the Lotus because it has a higher top speed than
the Lotus. Because of its capability it can be driven fast, and it can be
driven faster than the Lotus. These have been, and remain, facts:
imperfectly (grammatically). The Lotus was driven (or could have been
driven) more quickly up a mountain road, while the Bugatti was (or could
have been) driven more quickly over a long straight road; these are complete
actions, grammatically perfect.

Now, the people. Coe did run a mile in a shorter time than Bannister ever
did, and, so, could be said to be the faster runner - he (showed he) had the
capacity to reach a higher top speed. Both could run (as close as English
gets to a present imperfect) fast, but Coe could run faster. Considering
individual events in which either of them took part, however, I would say
that Coe ran (perfect) more quickly.

--
Enjoy,
Tony

www.WordArticles.com

"grammatim" wrote in message
...
That's exactly the distinction I arrived at for "fast" vs. "quick
(ly)." It also fits Tony's intuition about something that "happens
quickly" rather than "happens fast" -- I wonder whether he could be
persuaded to come back and reconsider his rejection of "he ran fast."

On Feb 16, 3:43 pm, Gordon Bentley-Mix gordon(dot)bentleymix(at)gmail
(dot)com wrote:
Peter,

In my mind there is an extremely fine but important difference between
"fast" and "quick". Fast is related to top speed, whereas quick has more
to
do with agility or acceleration.Therefore, while the two sentences are
highly
similar, they are not identical.

As for my preference, it depends on what information is being requested.
If
the question is about who had the greater maximum speed, then "faster" is
the
logical choice. However, if the question is about who could reach a
certain
speed soonest, then "quicker" wins. (Pun intended ;-P)

For example, the Bugatti Veyron is billed as being the fastest production
car in the world by virtue of its top speed approaching 300 km/h. However,
there are several production cars which reach 100 km/h in less time and,
therefore, are quicker.

Similarly, something like a Lotus Esprit could probably traverse a
winding,
hilly route in less time than a Veyron, and in this instance, I would
classify the Esprit as quicker - although the Veyron is indisputably
faster.

Don't you just *love* English? The subtleties are spectacular! No wonder
non-native speakers - no matter how well schooled - find it so difficult,
and
software - no matter how well designed - struggles so much.

(Hmm... "software struggles"... is that correct? Word seems to think
so.eg)
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP