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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > superlatives    

superlatives



chibini
French Polynesia

superlatives
 
Hi everybody,
 
Could you help me with superlatives?
Using the adjective "well-made" , would you say: It �s the most well-made movie I �ve ever seen or  It �s the best-made movie I �ve ever seen. 
 
Thanks for your help.  

29 Mar 2016      





Mariethe House
France

Grammatically, the second answer is correct. However I don �t know if it is possible to say ; a well-made film. Sounds a bit strange to me . I �d rather say : a well-directed film.....??????Let �s wait for native speakers

29 Mar 2016     



ldeloresmoore
China

Well-made film sounds ok to me --- To me, anyway, it carries a slightly different connotation. 
 
"It was a well-directed film" -- The directing was great, but maybe the acting or set design or costuming, etc, wasn �t so great.
 
"It was a well-acted film" -- the actors were fantastic, but the rest was just so-so.
 
"it was a well-made film" -- all of the elements were high quality and I have very positive impressions about all elements of the movie.  

If you are looking for a way to use the comparative or superlative -- I�d say "It�s the best-made film I�ve ever seen." -- because to use a comparative or superlative you need some reference to the things it is being compared to. 

I wouldn�t say it is a better-made film, usually. That seems a bit odd.  I might say that "Movie X was made better than Movie Z".  But if I want to show that Movie Y is best, I�d say something like, "Movie Y is the best-made war movie I�ve ever seen."  to emphasize the quality of actually producing the product.  

"Movie Y is the best war movie I�ve ever seen." -- implies you just think it gave you the best experience of any war movie you have seen in all your life. 

Hope this helps. 

29 Mar 2016     



joy2bill
Australia

We could say "The film was well-made" but never best-made. We use it more in an adverbial way than as an adjective. Is best-made grammatically correct? It certainly is not a collocation. I agree I would rather say well-directed but again not as an adjective but more as a complement to the be verb. 

30 Mar 2016     



joy2bill
Australia

We could say "The film was well-made" but never best-made. We use it more in an adverbial way than as an adjective. Is best-made grammatically correct? It certainly is not a collocation. I agree I would rather say well-directed but again not as an adjective but more as a complement to the be verb. 

30 Mar 2016     



yanogator
United States

I agree that "best-made" just doesn �t sound right, and "better-made" sounds much worse. However, I think I would possibly use "best-made" sometimes (in informal speech) without worrying about it.
 
Bruce 

30 Mar 2016     



cunliffe
United Kingdom

�The best made .... �  sounds OK to me, but I �m not sure how meaningful it is... As others have pointed out, it �s a massive generalisation. 

31 Mar 2016