Disraeli said that he had 'the largest parliamentary knowledge of any man he had met'.—Bryce.
Though this is extremely common, as the examples are enough to show, there is seldom any objection to saying either most of all or more than any.
3. Most with words that do not admit of degrees.
Unique has been separately dealt with in the chapter on Vocabulary. Ideal is another word of the same sort. An ideal solution is one that could not possibly be improved upon, and most is nonsense with it. Ideal and most obvious should be read in the example:
That the transformation of the Regular Army into the general service Army and of the Militia into the home service Army is a most ideal and obvious solution admits, I think, of no contradiction.—Times.
Relatives
a. Defining and non-defining relative clauses.
For the purposes of b. and c. below, all relative clauses are divided into defining and non-defining. The exact sense in which we use these terms is illustrated by the following groups, of which (i) contains defining clauses, (ii) non-defining.
(i) The man who called yesterday left no address.
Mr. Lovelace has seen divers apartments at Windsor: but not one, he says, that he thought fit for me.—Richardson.
He secured...her sincere regard, by the feelings which he manifested.—Thackeray.
The Jones who dines with us to-night is not the Jones who was at school with you.
The best novel that Trollope ever wrote was...
Any man that knows three words of Greek could settle that point.
(ii) At the first meeting, which was held yesterday, the chair...
Deputies must be elected by the Zemstvos, which must be extended and popularized, but not on the basis of...—Times.
The Emperor William, who was present..., listened to a loyal address.—Times.
The statue of the Emperor Frederick, which is the work of the sculptor Professor Uphnes, represents the Monarch on horseback.—Times.
Jones, who should know something of the matter, thinks differently.
