difference “What was best” vs “what was the best”? English Language Learners Stack Exchange


Find the answer to your question by asking. This https://chickenroadapp.in/ pronoun does not refer to any object. The adjective best is used in a copular construction with the dummy pronoun it.

  • For more information about this, see section 25 of the Oxford Guide to English Grammar (John Eastwood, 1994)
  • In an answer on englishforums.com it says that both are exactly the same.
  • There’s no noun that we can attach the to here.
  • The confusion arises because the word best can be used as any of several different parts of speech.

You must log in to answer this question.

When the subject and the auxiliary verb are swapped over, it’s called inversion. For a more thorough explanation of why the two formats look the same, see JavaLatte’s answer and note that “the best” is a complement. Your original is correct as-is, except you need to remove the question mark at the end because it’s not a question. See similar questions with these tags.

more stack exchange communities

My question is, what is the correct way to write this clause? Because the noun car is modified by the superlative adjective best, and because this makes the noun car definite in this context, we use the. When it is the subject, inversion does not take place.

Answers 3

Now, you might be thinking that “which one is the best” cannot be correct since it’s a question format. I hope we can both agree this sentence is wrong because “good” is an adjective, and cannot be the subject of “is”. “Which one is the best” is obviously a question format, so it makes sense that “which one the best is” should be the correct form. These clauses are not questions, so the last one should also not be a question.

Answer 1

Adding “the” doesn’t work, although one could substitute the prepositional phrase, “for the best”. In many sentences it will not matter if “best” or “the best” is used. In an answer on englishforums.com it says that both are exactly the same. There’s no noun that we can attach the to here.

Hot Network Questions

  • For more information about this, see section 25 of the Oxford Guide to English Grammar (John Eastwood, 1994)
  • In an answer on englishforums.com it says that both are exactly the same.
  • The confusion arises because the word best can be used as any of several different parts of speech.
  • There’s no noun that we can attach the to here.

Object- inversionWhose book is this? I am not clear on the last bit of the sentence, “which one is the best”. On the linked page, best is used as an adverb,modifying the verb knew.In that context, the phrase the best can also be used as if it were an adverb.The meaning is approximately the same in that case. The confusion arises because the word best can be used as any of several different parts of speech.

You must log in to answer this question.

Here, we have the adjective best, but this adjective is attached to no noun. The word “best” is an adjective, and adjectives do not take articles by themselves. We use articles like the and a before nouns, like car. For more information about this, see section 25 of the Oxford Guide to English Grammar (John Eastwood, 1994) Complement- inversionWhy didn’t you go to the party?

You must log in to answer this question.

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. A question word can function as subject, object, complement or adverbial. In your sentence, which is the subject, so no inversion takes place.