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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Superlatives - I think

0 Please settle this for me. I believe it is incorrect to say the following: The restaurant is one of the better restaurants in the city. If there are more than two restaurants shouldn't it be "the best"? 0-
  

Top answer

0 This is a rather interesting, but rare, construction. It's the use of the comparative - not the superlative - to mean that the adjective or adverb does not apply fully, but only somewhat. 02br 00It can be paraphrased with "somewhat" or "rather" or "fairly", or with "more X than not" 02br 02br 00This restaurant is one of the [rather / fairly / respectably] good restaurants in the city.

— CalifJim

  • 0 This is a rather interesting, but rare, construction.
  • It's the use of the comparative - not the superlative - to mean that the adjective or adverb does not apply fully, but only somewhat.
  • 02br 00It can be paraphrased with "somewhat" or "rather" or "fairly", or with "more X than not" 02br 02br 00This restaurant is one of the [rather / fairly / respectably] good restaurants in the city.
  • 02br 00This restaurant is one of those which can be described as more good than not, but not the greatest.
  • 02br 02br 00This real estate agent specializes in selling newer homes.
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7 Answers
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0 This is a rather interesting, but rare, construction. It's the use of the comparative - not the superlative - to mean that the adjective or adverb does not apply fully, but only somewhat. 02br
00It can be paraphrased with "somewhat" or "rather" or "fairly", or with "more X than not" 02br
02br
00This restaurant is one of the [rather / fairly / respectably] good
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0 Excellent analysis, Jim. I think that in English, we don't have to limit ourselves to two in order to compare. So while I mostly agree with what you've said, might we not view this one restaurant as in the group of better restaurants. 02br
02br
00This group is good, this group is better and this group is the best. I don't agree that it is a rare use; I think it's quite comm
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0 I finally found the rule on the question I had. See if you understand my question better now. "Use the comparative to denote a greater degree or to refer to two in a comparison." 02br
00"Use the superlative to denote the greatest degree or to refer to three or more in a comparison." 02br
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00I must have a problem conveying what is on my mind. 0-
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0 This restaurant is one of the better ones: not of the best, but not of the bad ones either. If you try to stop thinking of the comparative as TWO, you'll get it. 02br
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00Grammar rules often tend to neglect some of the aspects of real usage, but even your rule says: "Use the comparative to denote a greater degree." The second part of the rule is another, separate condit
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0 Hi Guest, 02br
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00I hope I'm answering your question correctly. It's my understanding that you are asking about comparatives and superlatives, and perhaps asking about the rules of usage. 02br
02br
00We use the 01i00comparative02i00 when we are comparing 2 things, and the 01i00superlative02i00 when we are
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0 Re: The restaurant is one of the BETTER restaurants in the city. 02br
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00I believe the adjective "better" is NOT used as a comparative adjective in this sentence. It is used as a simple adjective. e.g. 02br
00"There are POORER restaurants and there are BETTER ones in the city. This restaurant is one of the BETTER restaurants" 02br
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00
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0 I think 00 is 00, not 00. 02br
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00Similar expressions I found in OED are; 02br
00[1] Carl Erskine, one of the better fast-ball pitchers, tried to throw a pitch past Mays. 02br
00[2] Montepulciano, one of the better red table wines of Tuscany. 02br
02br
02br
00paco 02br
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