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Avangi Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary

"adequate" as absolute?

Hi,

Is "adequate" one of those absolutes like "round" and "perfect," which don't really have comparative or superlative degrees, but may be used casually as if they did?

I'm bothered by "more adaquate" and "most adaquate," although I don't have much trouble with "quite adaquate" and "very adaquate."

Does anyone have an opinion on this?

Thanks, - A.
  

Top answer

My opinion is that there are a lot of adjectives and adverbs that are 'near-absolute', in that we sometimes wonder whether it is necessary or proper to use them gradably. But I think that the grammar books are willing to list very few actual non-gradables. Even words like 'original', 'dead', Anglo-Saxon', and even 'unique' have been graded reputably in certain contexts.

— Mister Micawber

  • My opinion is that there are a lot of adjectives and adverbs that are 'near-absolute', in that we sometimes wonder whether it is necessary or proper to use them gradably.
  • But I think that the grammar books are willing to list very few actual non-gradables.
  • Even words like 'original', 'dead', Anglo-Saxon', and even 'unique' have been graded reputably in certain contexts.
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4 Answers
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My opinion is that there are a lot of adjectives and adverbs that are 'near-absolute', in that we sometimes wonder whether it is necessary or proper to use them gradably. But I think that the grammar books are willing to list very few actual non-gradables. Even words like 'original', 'dead', Anglo-Saxon', and even 'unique' have been graded reputably in certain contexts.
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Even if my humble opinion might not be adequate i'd like to offer it anyway:

Let us say there is a problem and one solution to it: this solution might be adquate or not. If there are two solutions, of course one might be more adequate and with three solutions one of them might be the most adequate to the given problem. Still, I guess, one could use in these cases a verbal expression like
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Thanks, Santor. I used to be a real jackass about these things which I felt were absolute. I now accept that there are no perfect circles in the real world. Still some of them really bother me. I suppose it's a question of style, as you suggest.
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