superlative + THAT clause ‘the best you can’ – English Grammar Profiler
Let’s explain what a ‘superlative clause’ is with this example:
- It’s the best car that you can buy.
the best is the superlative adjective. that you can buy is the relative clause
We can rewrite this as two sentences:
- It is the best car. You can buy it.
Here the object it is replaced with the relative pronoun: that.
- It is the best car that you can buy.
- It is the best car
thatyou can buy. (We can also remove that) - It is the best
caryou can buy. (We can also remove car if we know what you are talking about)
Here’s a similar expert example:
- That‘s the best that you can do. (listen to this sentence)
In the English Grammar Profile, point 95 in the category of CLAUSES & comparatives at B2 is defined as:
a superlative adjective (+ noun) (+ ‘that’) followed by a clause to talk about something unique.
Therefore, it is not essential to follow the superlative with a noun or ‘that’. This becomes hard to find. Also, there are also a lot of incorrectly tagged superlatives with Claws7 for this. A search in iWeb for:
_jjt that_c
1 BEST THAT 16563
2 WORST THAT 5544
This further collocates mostly with more ‘that’ clauses, ‘happen’, and questions with ‘can’:
1 THAT 6286 2 HAPPEN 4155 3 CAN 2399 4 COULD 1771 5 ? 1481
6 WHAT 1187
If we look roughly at the context with ‘happen’:
If we look at this main cluster in COCA, we see that it is not academic either.
3 CLOSEST THAT 586, 4 HIGHEST THAT 417, 5 LARGEST THAT 345, 6 LATEST THAT 331, 8 GREATEST THAT 296, 9 EARLIEST THAT 265, 11 FINEST THAT 245, 12 BIGGEST THAT 234, 17 LOWEST THAT 147, 19 LONGEST THAT 142, 20 SMALLEST THAT 142, 21 OLDEST THAT 115, 23 CHEAPEST THAT 113, 24 STRONGEST THAT 113
25 SLIGHTEST THAT 108
The most common collocates are in the phrase ‘It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that’
MISTAKES: 7 KNOWEST THAT 318, 10 BACKREST THAT 247 13 REINVEST THAT 229, 14 FOREMOST THAT 227, 15 HEADREST THAT 163, 16 SAYEST THAT 149, 18 ARMREST THAT 145, 22 INGEST THAT 113, 26 SEEST THAT 100, 28 SLUGFEST THAT 86, 30 PINTEREST THAT 69
_jjt* _n* _p*_v*
1 BEST THING YOU CAN 11062, 2 WORST THING YOU CAN 3704, 3 BEST THINGS YOU CAN 3488, 4 BEST ADVICE I CAN 3126, 5 BEST WAY I CAN 2179, 6 BEST THING WE CAN 1342, 7 BEST THING I HAVE 1299, 8 BEST THING I CAN 1254, 9 WORST THINGS YOU CAN 1024, 10 BEST WAY YOU CAN 1008, 11 BEST WAY I KNOW 845, 12 BEST THING I COULD 840, 13 BEST WAY WE CAN 789, 14 BEST THING YOU COULD 754, 15 BEST WAYS YOU CAN 737, 16 CLOSEST THING WE HAVE 693, 17 WORST THING YOU COULD 660, 18 BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAVE 595
(B1 point 33 superlative + present perfect) 19 BEST DECISION I HAVE 562
20 BEST THINGS I HAVE 514, 21 BEST PRICE I COULD 511, 22 BEST WAY I HAVE 506, 23 BEST ADVICE WE CAN 488, 24 BEST ADVICE I HAVE 481, 25 HARDEST THING I HAVE 462
26 BEST INVESTMENTS YOU CAN 456
27 BEST WAY I COULD 456, 28 BEST THING I DID 451, 29 BEST GIFT YOU CAN 440, 30 BEST INVESTMENT YOU CAN 432, 31 BEST DECISIONS I HAVE 417,
32 BEST DECISION I MADE 407
33 BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU CAN 389, 34 BEST ADVICE I COULD 382, 35 BEST EXAMPLE I CAN 366, 36 LOWEST PRICE WE COULD 364
37 BEST PRODUCT I HAVE 357
38 BEST THING WE COULD 338, 39 CLOSEST THING I CAN 335, 40 EASIEST THING YOU CAN 330, 41 BEST WAY WE KNOW 323
42 BIGGEST ISSUE I HAVE 321
43 GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN 320, 44 EASIEST THINGS YOU CAN 312, 45 BEST THINGS WE CAN 310, 46 BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU CAN 300, 47 BEST FRIEND WHO IS 299, 48 BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE 299, 49 BIGGEST THING YOU CAN 297
50 BEST QUALITY YOU CAN 295
51 CLOSEST THING I HAVE 294, 52 BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAD 279, 53 BEST PERSON YOU CAN 278, 54 BEST DECISION I COULD 272, 55 BEST WAY THEY CAN 267, 56 BEST THING THEY CAN 263, 57 BEST BOOK I HAVE 262, 58 BEST GIFTS YOU CAN 256, 59 BIGGEST MISTAKE I SEE 256, 60 WORST THING I HAVE 246, 61 CLOSEST THING YOU CAN 243, 62 BEST ADVICE YOU CAN 238
63 GREATEST GIFTS YOU CAN 235
64 BEST INVESTMENT I HAVE 234
65 BEST THINGS I DID 232, 66 CLOSEST THING I COULD 232, 67 BEST DECISION WE MADE 223, 68 WORST THING I COULD 223, 69 BIGGEST PROBLEM WE HAVE 220, 70 BEST JOB YOU CAN 218, 71 BEST DECISIONS I MADE 217, 72 BEST BOOKS I HAVE 215,
73 BEST MONEY I HAVE 212, 74 BEST PERSON I CAN 210, 75 BEST THING WE HAVE 207, 76 WORST THING WE CAN 207, 77 BEST WAYS WE CAN 204
78 BIGGEST CHALLENGES WE FACE 203
79 BEST THING THEY COULD 202, 80 BEST WAY I FOUND 201, 81 BIGGEST MISTAKES I SEE 200, 82 HARDEST THINGS I HAVE 191
83 EASIEST WAY I HAVE 190, 84 LONGEST TIME I THOUGHT 190
85 SMARTEST PEOPLE I KNOW 185
86 WORST THING I CAN 180, 87 NICEST PEOPLE I HAVE 177, 88 BEST CAR I HAVE 174, 89 BEST WAY THEY KNOW 174, 90 BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE 174
91 BEST SERVICE I HAVE 173
92 BEST THING HE COULD 169, 93 BIGGEST THING I HAVE 169
94 BEST PURCHASES I HAVE 167
95 LONGEST TIME I WAS 167, 96 BEST ANALOGY I CAN 162, 97 BEST THING WE DID 160, 98 BEST TOOLS YOU CAN 160, 99 SMARTEST THING YOU CAN 158
100 BEST CHOICES YOU CAN 154
1 BEST THING THAT 8423, 2 WORST THING THAT 5101, 3 BEST PRACTICES THAT 2613, 4 BIGGEST THING THAT 2357, 5 BEST THINGS THAT 1992, 6 BEST WAY THAT 1320, 7 BIGGEST THINGS THAT 931, 8 WORST THINGS THAT 902, 9 BIGGEST CHALLENGES THAT 745, 10 BEST FRIEND THAT 681, 11 BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT 676, 12 GREATEST THING THAT 642, 13 BIGGEST MISTAKES THAT 600, 14 BEST PRACTICE THAT 541, 15 BIGGEST PROBLEMS THAT 494, 16 BIGGEST MISTAKE THAT 420, 17 BEST WAYS THAT 418, 18 BIGGEST ISSUES THAT 408, 19 BEST ADVICE THAT 394
20 BIGGEST FACTORS THAT 394
21 BIGGEST CHALLENGE THAT 382, 22 BIGGEST REASON THAT 339, 23 BEST PRODUCT THAT 327, 24 BIGGEST REASONS THAT 293,
25 HIGHEST QUALITY THAT 286
A search for past particles to try to find present perfect only found one example, the rest are passive points.
, 26 BEST PRODUCTS THAT 277, 27 CLOSEST THING THAT 277, 28 HIGHEST HONOR THAT 265, 29 BEST FRIENDS THAT 259
30 SLIGHTEST DOUBT THAT 244
31 LATEST SIGN THAT 242, 32 BIGGEST ISSUE THAT 239, 33 BIGGEST FACTOR THAT 237, 34 BEST JOB THAT 236, 35 SMALLEST NUMBER THAT 236
36 LATEST TECHNOLOGY THAT 229
37 BEST INTEREST THAT 215
No examples of present perfect.
38 BEST ONES THAT 213, 39 GREATEST GIFT THAT 203
40 BEST EVIDENCE THAT 201
41 BEST DECISION THAT 200
42 LATEST VERSION THAT 193
43 BEST DECISIONS THAT 183, 44 HARDEST THING THAT 179, 45 FUNNIEST THING THAT 178
46 BEST FEATURES THAT 174
47 EARLIEST DATE THAT 174
48 GREATEST THINGS THAT 169, 49 HIGHEST LEVEL THAT 159, 50 EASIEST WAY THAT 157, 51 BEST GIFT THAT 156
52 BEST PROOF THAT 149
53 BEST PLAYERS THAT 147, 54 BIGGEST CHANGE THAT 145
55 BEST SOLUTION THAT 145
56 BEST PLAYER THAT 144, 57 BEST QUALITY THAT 143, 58 BEST PEOPLE THAT 139, 59 HARDEST THINGS THAT 139, 60 SIMPLEST THING THAT 137, 61 BEST GAMES THAT 136, 62 BIGGEST BEING THAT 136
63 SLIGHTEST HINT THAT 134
64 LATEST TECHNOLOGIES THAT 133
65 BEST OPTION THAT 131
66 SLIGHTEST CHANCE THAT 131,
67 SIMPLEST THINGS THAT 131
68 WILDEST DREAMS THAT 126
69 LOWEST DOSE THAT 126
70 BEST OPTIONS THAT 123
Point 33 in the category of Nouns at B1 is defined as
a clause with a present perfect or past perfect as a superlative noun phrase complement, to talk about uniqueness.
_jjt* _n* that * _vh* _vvn*
iWeb doesn’t allow such a search so we turn to the NOW corpus and selected out appropriate points:
8 GREATEST TEST THAT WE HAVE FACED 17
10 BIGGEST THING THAT I ‘VE LEARNED 15
19 LATEST INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED 9
21 BEST GAME THAT WE ‘VE PLAYED 7
35 SMARTEST GAME THAT WE HAVE PLAYED 6
The larger iWeb & Now corpora do not allow for a collocated search of superlatives located to the left of VH + VVN, but the smaller COCA does. So we get the following superlatives:
We can note the superlative adjectives we are most interested in are either B1 or A2 for our B1 grammar point. We have already found previously other similar examples for much of this vocabulary, so we will just look up a few examples for new words here. What we soon discover again is that we get many other structures that do not match point 33. So the information contained is of relative importance that should be used mindfully.
1 BEST 5604 2 BIGGEST 1617 3 WORST 1520 4 GREATEST 897 5 LARGEST 769 6 LATEST 764 7 CLOSEST 493 8 HIGHEST 447 9 OLDEST 320 10 LONGEST 259 11 YOUNGEST 242 12 STRONGEST 203 13 FINEST 197 14 LOWEST 193 15 EARLIEST 178 16 FUNNIEST 149 17 HARDEST 140 18 TOUGHEST 130 19 SMALLEST 107 20 NEWEST 93 21 SMARTEST 90 22 NICEST 88 23 HAPPIEST 87 24 FOREMOST 82 25 FASTEST 81 26 POOREST 76
27 WILDEST 74
28 ELDEST 71
Most examples do not match point 33.
29 DEEPEST 70 30 STRANGEST 70 31 DEAREST 67 32 COOLEST 64 33 WEALTHIEST 60 34 DUMBEST 57 35 BRIGHTEST 56 36 RICHEST 55 37 HOTTEST 54
38 EASIEST 51
39 NEAREST 49
Some examples are good for point 33
40 SLIGHTEST 49 41 HEAVIEST 46 42 STUPIDEST 45 43 CRAZIEST 44 44 WEIRDEST 40 45 CHEAPEST 38 46 PRETTIEST 37 47 SCARIEST 37 48 SWEETEST 37 49 SADDEST 36 50 SIMPLEST 34 51 DARKEST 32 52 WEAKEST 31 53 HARSHEST 29 54 SECOND-LARGEST 29 55 HEALTHIEST 24 56 WARMEST 24 57 LOUDEST 23 58 CLEAREST 22 59 BUSIEST 21 60 FARTHEST 21 61 SHORTEST 21 62 FIERCEST 20 63 TALLEST 20 64 SAFEST 19 65 UGLIEST 19 66 WIDEST 19 67 LIGHTEST 18 68 COLDEST 17 69 FURTHEST 17 70 PROUDEST 17 71 QUIETEST 17 72 SHARPEST 17 73 SILLIEST 17 74 CLEANEST 16 75 KINDEST 16 76 BROADEST 15 77 BOLDEST 14 78 FITTEST 14 79 FULLEST 14 80 NASTIEST 14 81 ANGRIEST 13 82 SICKEST 13 83 STAUNCHEST 13 84 THIRD-LARGEST 13 85 TINIEST 13 86 TRUEST 13 87 WISEST 13 88 CUTEST 12 89 LOVELIEST 12 90 LUCKIEST 12 91 ODDEST 12 92 SMOOTHEST 12 93 BEST-LOOKING 11 94 GRAVEST 11 95 LITTLEST 11 96 QUICKEST 11 97 BRAVEST 10 98 BLOODIEST 10 99 DEADLIEST 9
100 FONDEST 9
This post is another that shows overlapping points from different CEFR levels. Both points require a superlative to be followed by a clause. What is strange is that the B2 clause can be anything. Whereas the B1 point must be present or past perfect. This is strange because it is much harder to find something that is more specific, and usually more specific is more complex.
Finally, note that if the bare infinitive is removed after a modal verb in the clause, this structure is C1.