Subject + 比较 + Adjective (fairly, rather)

Not great, not terrible

• A friend asks how your new job is. It is fine, but you would not call it amazing.
• to work工作gōng zuòfairly比较bǐ jiàobusy忙máng，but不过bú guòcolleague同事tóng shìall / both都dōudegree / adjective linker很hěngood好hǎo。 — "The work is fairly busy, but my colleagues are all nice."

fairly比较bǐ jiào + Adjective

• Subject + fairly比较bǐ jiào + Adj = "fairly, rather, relatively": fairly比较bǐ jiàoexpensive贵guì, fairly比较bǐ jiàodifficult难nán, fairly比较bǐ jiàoto distance oneself from…远yuǎn.
• Here fairly比较bǐ jiào is an adverb of degree, so it takes the place of degree / adjective linker很hěn; there is no second thing being compared.

this这zhè(measure word)个gequestion问题wèn tífairly比较bǐ jiàodifficult难nán。

A softer way to answer

• Answering "Is the restaurant far?": fairly比较bǐ jiàoto distance oneself from…远yuǎn，we我们wǒ mento take a taxi (in town)打车dǎ chē(suggestion)吧ba。 — "It's rather far; let's take a taxi."
• fairly比较bǐ jiào also goes before some verbs of liking: I我wǒfairly比较bǐ jiàolike喜欢xǐ huanto drink tea喝茶hē chá。 — "I prefer tea (I like tea more)."

I我wǒrather比较bǐ jiàolike喜欢xǐ huandrinking喝hētea茶chá。

Do not combine it with than / compared to比bǐ

fairly比较bǐ jiào as a verb

• fairly比较bǐ jiào can also be a verb meaning "to compare": we我们wǒ menfairly比较bǐ jiàobriefly一下yí xiàthis这zhètwo两个liǎng gephones手机shǒu jī。 — "Let's compare these two phones."
• Tell them apart by position: before an adjective it means "fairly"; with an object it means "compare".

we我们wǒ mencompare比较bǐ jiàobriefly一下yí xiàthese这zhètwo两个liǎng gephones手机shǒu jī。

Recap

Read the full reference: HSK 3 grammar — fairly比较bǐ jiào.