The Most –

曹兰艳

When I was an adult, we students were usually ordered to write down “the name of the most magnificent student in our class” on a blank paper. Then we have to hand it in. However, I failed to do it properly when I got the initial opportunity. Instead of only one name, I offered two. It took my teachers quite a long time before I approached the standard idea that “the most magnificent” indicated “the only one”.

    As several years step on, now I am hit by the thoughts that what I meant “standard idea” is about semantics in the language category. So I am addicted to the semantic explanation that the phrase “the most”, of no doubt, must be interpreted as “the only one". Then, I cast a blind eye to fact that there are so many evidence exists around standing on the contrast. For instance, proposition “as” must be a sarcasm compared with “the most”.

    According to pragmatics but not semantics, more tragedies would be on show if the phrase “the most” is interpreted as “the only one”. Suppose a president awards a model “the most selfless one” to a general. The president, in eyes of other people, criticizes other generals or even ignores their contributions. The intention of the president is of evil, no matter he does it on purpose or not – the fact is that he does it and his words take effect. Sometimes those words may poise or murder a certain amount of generals, who are committed to selfish people by his words that in his mind may be of significant encouragement. Another universal example is popular among magazines. A gentleman in love of a lady is requested by her: “who is the most important woman in your life, your mother or me?” The gentleman is to be fooled and his mind all of a sudden loses the capability to operate properly. Though the man loves both his mother and the lady, how can he make a correct determination between them? The question from that lady is a tragedy for him and his life transforms into a tragedy later.

    For a time, I was wondering that maybe it is possible to violate the habit of using the phrase “the most”. Maybe it is better to replace “the most” with “the more”, for later phrase is more acceptable for both utters and audiences – though it is a little difficult for speakers to express their strong emotions without the phrase “the most”. It is really a long way to go before any speakers realize the pragmatic effect of phrase “the most” and phrase “the more”, but phrase “the more” is really more favorable to protect others’ esteem.

[ 本帖最后由 曹兰艳 于 2008-6-2 13:58 编辑 ]

admin

a good passage for its good perspective of looking into this problem

but if you can improve the long sentences here, it will be better. some long sentences are grammatically wrong.