Make Your Editor Cry: Best and Worst vs. Good and Bad
So, here’s the thing. You can try to be “as good as” you can be or do something “as well as” you can do it. You can try to be “as bad as” you can be or do something “as badly as” you can do it. No problems in either case.
However, you can’t really try to be “as best as” you can be or do something “as best as” you can do it. Likewise, you can’t really try to be “as worst as” you can be or do something “as worst as” you can do it. Big problems there in either case.
You need to eliminate the second “as” when forms of “good” transform to “best” or forms of “bad” transform to “worst.”
Correct Examples:
Positive:
You can be as good as you can be.
You can do something as well as you can do it.
You can be the best you can be.
You can do something as best you can do it.
You can also do the best that you can.
You can also do the best you can.
Negative:
You can be as bad as you can be.
You can do something as badly as you can do it.
You can be the worst you can be.
You can do something as worst you can do it.
You can also do the worst that you can.
You can also do the worst you can.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.