Superlatives

[mbkudu]

The other day I was talking to a non-native English speaker about a particular sentence. It was this:

'He is one of the tallest boys in the school.'

She asked me if it was correct; I guess because she thought it might be wrong. I told her I thought is was correct. Then she asked me why. I wasn't sure how to answer it. Her point was that the superlative 'the tallest' means there are no boys who are taller than that boy, but the 'one of' part seems to contradict that. Her point seems fair, and maybe the sentence is incorrect, but

I've seen many sentences structured the same way.

Edited August 31, 2007 by mbkudu

[PeaceBlondie]

Your hunch was correct.

"The tallest boy" is absolutely the very tallest one.

"The tallest boys" are the ones who are (in a matayom school) over six feet tall, 183 cm or more. All the boys who are that tall or taller are the tallest boys. Any one of those boys is "one of the tallest boys."

The singular 'tallest boy' is the single tallest, maybe 189 cm tall. The plural 'tallest boys' are a group.

[mbkudu]

I get it now. He is part of a single group that is the tallest. That makes sense. Thanks PB.