most/more likely

Question

He is most likely to be released before June.He is more likely to be released before June.Could you tell me what is the difference in meaning between these two sentences with respect to "more" and "most"?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

He is most likely to be released before June. eg He might be released in December, he might be released in August, he might be released before June. There are 3 or more alternatives.

He is more likely to be released before June. eg He might be released before June, he might be released after June. There are two alternatives.

Best wishes, Clive

User_gary · Answer

Thank you Clive.

So I think in these sentences both (more/most) and (likely) are adverbs. Am I right?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

'More/most' are adverbs, but I see 'likely' as an adjective in these sentences.

Clive

Cool Breeze · Answer

CliveHe is most likely to be released before June. eg He might be released in December, he might be released in August, he might be released before June. There are 3 or more alternatives.

Hi Clive

What you say is true if we consider most likely a relative superlative. However, it can also be an absolute superlative, in which case we don't know the number of alternatives at all. The sentence can simply mean: He is very likely to be released before June.

It is often impossible to distinguish between relative and absolute superlatives in English, which renders the language ambiguous, and I am sure many less educated natives lead their lives without ever using an absolute superlative as it is possible to speak the language without using that structure. This and the lack of a Language Academy may have contributed to English* being the mess it is grammatically.

Cheers
CB
* PS: Those who insist on a possessive form as the subject of a gerund will say: ... to English's being...(I'm not one of them!)

User_gary · Answer

Hi Cool Breeze,

What you mean by "Absolute and Relative Superlative Degree". I haven't come across this topic yet. When I searched for it on Google, I did not find anything with this topic. Could you give me a link/links where I can study that.

Cool Breeze · Answer

User_garyHi Cool Breeze,

What you mean by "Absolute and Relative Superlative Degree". I haven't come across this topic yet. When I searched for it on Google, I did not find anything with this topic. Could you give me a link/links where I can study that.

I did a search as well and learned that many people say there is no absolute superlative in English. That's a nice way to tackle the problem! Whatever people want to call these structures, they certainly are translated as absolute superlatives into some other languages - and no comparison is involved. If the structures are not called absolute superlatives in English, I would be extremely anxious to hear what they should be called.
Now that I think of it, I really can't remember reading anything about absolute superlatives in grammar books written and printed outside Finland.

I checked Otto Jespersen'sEssentials of English Grammar, and he obviously doesn't regard the absolute superlative as essential at all because there is nothing about it in his book! This is just guesswork, but one reason may be that this grammatical phenomenon is so illogical and inconsistent in English that grammarians haven't even noticed it exists!

These links will take you to EF threads dealing with the absolute superlative:

Cheers
CB

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