Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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 Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: first and last |
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| Chan-Seung Lee wrote: |
| Quote: |
1.He was the first soldier of the day.
2.He was the strongest soldier of the day.
3.He was the first strongest soldier of the day.
4.He was the second strongest soldier of the day.
5.He is the last boy in the class.
6.He is the poorest boy in the class.
7.He is the last poorest boy in the class. |
I made up the above examples for me to be positive about the usage of 'first' and 'last'.
From native speakers' view, please pinpoint the awkward stences with some explantions. |
3, 4, & 7 are grammatically correct but sound awkward because it is difficult to imagine a situation where those two superlatives would work together. Are all of the soldiers taking a magic potion that makes them stronger than normal humans, and each one that takes it becomes stronger than the previous person, and he is the first to take the potion? Possible in some fiction story. And what's going on in sentence 7 that keeps making all these students rich or poor? So, awkward, yeah.
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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