> QuickSand wrote:
> > Whom do you admire the most?
> >
> > In the above sentence, I think 'the most' is an adverb.
> >
> > I've learned that we don't use 'the' in front of a superlative
> adverb.
> > Then, why do we use 'the most' in the example? What would be wrong
> > with 'Whom do you admire most?'?
WHOA!!!
You're generalizing from an oversimplified prescriptive rule that's
been around for generations. Check the date on your foreign language
learner's grammar book. Better yet, tell me what it is.
Where did you find something like that in this day and age?
Even something like "A Comprehensive Enlish Grammar for Foreign
Students," by C.E. and J.M. Eckersley, published in 1960, would not say
something like that, but instead, modify it as follows.
Page 58
The definite article is used:
(14) Before superlatives used attributively, e.g.
This is THE oldest building in Canterbury.
sometimes before superlatives used adverbially, e.g.
I like Shakespeare but it is modern drama that interests me the most.
People who have those seats in the theatre will pay the least.
A more modern way of looking at that from the viewpoint of a foreign
language learner would be:
Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, 2nd edition 1995 (I haven't
bought the third edition yet.)
page 125
138 comparison (4): using comparatives and superlatives, Subsection 12,
the with superlatives
...
THE is sometimes dropped before superlative adverbs in an informal
style.
Who can run (the) fastest?
THE cannot be dropped when a superlative in predicative position is
used with a defining expression.
This dictionary is the best I could find.
NOT: This dictionary is best I could find.
She was the quickest of all the staff.
The is not used with superlatives in predicative position or with
superlative adverbs, when we compare the same person or thing in
different situations. Compare:
He's nicest when he's had a few drinks. (NOT: He's the nicest when...)
I've got a lot of friends, but he's (the) nicest.
She works hardest when she's doing something for her family. (NOT: She
works the hardest when... (a woman's work is being compared in
different situations.)
She works (the) hardest: her husband doesn't know what work is. (A
woman is being compared with a man -- the is possible.)
Your use of "whom" as an interrogative pronoun is a dead giveaway that
you value grammatical correctness in your language before all things.
In most circles, such usage would be considered superformal or
superpolite (Robert Burchfield's terms, in The New Fowler's Modern
English Usage), but many non-native speakers cling to these moribund
and pretentious (S. Pinker's terms, quoted in Burchfield) forms as the
best kind of English.
All of the above are UK sources on English as a Foreign Language. A
quick search of your posts reveals that you're a Candian. This makes
what you're asking even more incomprehensible. Even the most
prescriptive of US usage guides, the Chicago Manual of Style (15th
edition) makes no mention of your "most" topic and calls "whom" as an
interrogative pronoun "indicative of a tendency to overcorrect."
I like to play detective, but this is ridiculous. What gives?
|
|