Rightest

Question

Is "rightest" a wrong word to express something like "the most proper thing"?

Victor_amelkin · Accepted Answer

I believe, "right" as an adjective is absolute; it has no comparative or superlative forms. Something may be either right or wrong or neither. Something may be the most rational, reasonable, or sensible. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yankee · Answer

Generally speaking, I'd say it would be very unusual to hear someone use "rightest".

However, the reality is that, in everyday English, people often use comparative and superlative forms of words that are theoretically "absolute". So, I wouldn't find it at all odd if someone said something such as the following to me:

- I think I did the right thing. In fact, I think it may have been one of the rightest things I have ever done.

Victor_amelkin · Answer

I hope, expressions like "a little pregnant" are used only in the colloquial speech or with a humorous angle since I find them quite strange even apart from the language used.

Yankee · Answer

victor_amelkin"a little pregnant"

Hi Victor

I take it you are a dyed-in-the-wool prescriptivist when it comes to grammar. Would you accept either of these?

- She looked a little pregnant when I saw her last week.

- She looked a lot more pregnant than I expected her to look.

Many, maybe even most of the "rules" that people are taught in English should be viewed as guidelines rather than as absolute rules that have no exceptions whatsoever.

Victor_amelkin · Answer

Hi Yankee,

> I take it you are a dyed-in-the-wool prescriptivist when it
> comes to grammar.

I prefer the approach descriptivists profess. But I generally use the
formal style because it's the only acceptable option at work and it's
much easier to learn something that is formally defined and thus
much more restricted in interpretation than something with lots of
possible usage variants. And even if there is no any restrictions
imposed on the style you're using it's more likely to be a matter of
taste.

> Would you accept either of these?
> - She looked a little pregnant when I saw her last week.
> - She looked a lot more pregnant than I expected her to look.

I'd accept the second one, but not the first one. Let me clarify my
position here. In my opinion, quantification of qualitative categories
is possible but it may be hard to perform sometimes (as it is for
me in your first sentence; in the second sentence the more-than
comparison suggests a guess) and sometimes it may be ambiguous.
For instance, let's quantify the color. On the one hand it's not so
difficult to answer which of two shirts is redder -- the vermilion or
pale salmon one (I believe, the first one). But which car is redder
-- the white or black one? One would say that both of them are not
red at all. But it's also possible to say that the black is absolutely not
red while the white is quite red as well as green or blue.

But if you're writing not for science and you're sure that the reader
will understand you, I see nothing bad in using such kind of
expressions. I only suggests that using the formal style is more "safe".

--
Victor

Rightest

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions