This paper aims to give a theoretical meaning to plain adjectives such as “wide”, “narrow”, “strict” or “lax” used by Culioli in Variations sur la Linguistique when the concept of adjustment is at stake. In everyday conversation, it is often necessary to reformulate what we have just said because the words we used did not rightly suit our thoughts. Or we just need to ask our interlocutor for some further explanation of what he actually meant.
As we shall see, the use of the pronoun it is a perfect example of it. Our purpose then is to trace some markers of “adjustment” in the language, be they lexical or grammatical. Then we shall try to define which of them best characterize the various adjectives used by Culioli : some adverbs and the aspectual form be + –ing will denote some “narrow” adjustment, while other adverbs or the use of as if will be the mark of some “lax” adjustment. The adjustment will be consi-dered “rigid” when the enunciator refers to the typical value of a predicative notion, whereas be + –ing and have –en will be used when we expect our interlocutor to produce some “loose” adjustment. Furthermore, another proof of the close connection between the notion of adjustment and pragmatics is to be found in everyday uses of the verb have.