The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
The new/ smartphone is/absolutely best than/ the latest model.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. absolutely best than.
Error Concept: Incorrect degree of comparison and use of intensifier.
What is wrong: The phrase 'absolutely best than' is incorrect. The word best is a superlative degree, so it should be followed by 'of' or 'in', not 'than'. Also, absolutely is not the correct intensifier to use with best here.
Grammar Concept:
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Comparative degree (better) is followed by than.
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Superlative degree (best) is followed by of or in.
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Intensifiers like absolutely are used with adjectives that do not show degree, but best already shows the highest degree, so absolutely is unnecessary.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: The sentence compares two models, so we must use the comparative degree 'better' instead of the superlative best.
Correction: Replace 'absolutely best than' with 'better than'.
Corrected phrase: Better than.
Final sentence: The new smartphone is better than the latest model.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.