Hello, everyone,
"We are too often blinded by our ignorance of our ignorance, and our pursuit of knowledge is no guarantee of wisdom. Hence, we are prone to becoming the blind leading the blind because our overemphasis on competition in nearly everything makes looking good more important than being good. The resultant fear of being thought a fool and criticized therefore is one of greatest enemies of true learning."
This passage has been quoted from our local text.
I wonder why the author has left out 'the' before 'greatest' in the sentence above, since I understand 'the' can't be omitted when the superative is modified by a defining expression - 'of true learning'.
I would appreciate on your response.
deepcosmoswhy the author has left out 'the' before 'greatest'
It's a mistake. It's always "one of the [superlative]".
CJ
Hi, CJ, long time no talk and much appreciate your nice clarification.
Then, is it plausible to say 'the' in "one of the [superlative]" can't be left out because in this phase the superative is always restricted by a defining expression - a prepositional phrase or a realtive clause?
No, I don't think so. You can have "one of the best" (or something like it) without any defining expression. In the following example "best" is not restricted (defined) by a prepositional phrase or a relative clause.
— Rembrandt was a great artist.
— Yes. He was one of the best.
But maybe we have different ideas of what a defining expression is. Do you see something in my example that you would call 'defining'?
CJ
Hi, CJ, of course I don't see any, but I meant 'the' in "one of the [superlative]" can't be left out in case the superative is restricted by a defining expression - a prepositional phrase or a realtive clause. My reference for my guess is based on the explanation in the 'Practical English Usage' which reads, "'The' cannot be dropped when a superlative is used with a defining expression. Ex) This dictionary is the best I could find. (NOT
This dictionary is best I couldfind.)Could I have your explanation once again, when it's convenient to you.
OK. Now I see what you mean.
Yes. That's correct.
You get a strike-out if you put a hyphen before and after a string of characters.
Or you may have selected the
Sbutton instead of the U button.CJ
Thanks your clarification. While I chose the S button, isn't this strikethough the very tool to express the opinion that the mentioned sentence as it stands is ungrammatical?
Ahh! That's what you meant. You already had "NOT" in front of it, so I didn't understand why you crossed it out.
I use strike-outs, too, to show mistakes or substitutions I'd like to make in students' sentences, but the "official" way to show that a sentence is not grammatical is to put an asterisk (*) at the beginning.
*This are not correctly sentence.
*This is not, too, would been correct.
And if it's on the borderline between correct and incorrect, or if some people find it correct and others don't, you put a question mark (?) at the beginning.
?He might have rather have gone to London.
CJ
Hello, CJ,
I would appreciate it if you response to following thread when it is convenient to you;
https://www.englishforums.com/English/LiteratureBooksTouchAesthetically-True/bqwjvg/post.htm