Language Tip 14 (2014-15)

The best of … construction: It’s perfectly ok to say “under the best circumstances” or “under the best conditions,” but this is not the best possible way of expressing this idea.

In these particular cases, you can up the level a bit by using an of-phrase: under the (very) best of circumstances.

The challenge, of course, is how to think of such catchy phrases; one possible and surprisingly productive way of doing that is googling e.g. “under the best”.

Three examples

“We were working under the best of conditions.”

“We parted under the best of terms.”

“I studied under the best of tutors.”

(N.B. the overwhelming majority of hits will be for “the best of conditions” or “the best of circumstances”)

Jason Blake and Monika Kavalir

(Skupno 28 obiskov, današnjih obiskov 1)
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