"the most clutch" (adjectival phrase)

[Ron Butters]

It so rarely appears as a bare noun (except as the object of the preposition "in") that one can scarcely classify it as a full-fledged noun, either, but rather as an adjective like "dead" that does not so easily allow comparative forms.

"How clutch is he as a player?" sounds as good to me as the quoted example.

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------Original Message------
From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Monday, December 19, 2011 2:06:11 PM GMT-0500
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "the most clutch" (adjectival phrase)

On Dec 19, 2011, at 1:33 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 12/19/2011 11:05 AM, Ronald Butters wrote:
>> Is the point that this should have been "clutchest" instead?
>
> No.
> Joel
>

It's that it's been reanalyzed as an adjective, as the superlative indicates. "How clutch is he?" would do the same.

LH
>
>> On Dec 19, 2011, at 11:02 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>> > On Tom Brady yesterday:  "the most clutch quarterback of his era
>> > reminded everyone why he's still The One."
>> >
>> > Michael Silver's Morning Rush, Yahoo Sports Exclusive.
>> >
>> http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_morning_rush_tom_brady_tim_tebow_121911
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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>
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