English teachers: Is there any grammatical situation where, "Be best" is correctly used?

[Maraya1969]

Usually a "THE" is inserted between those 2 words.

"Be best in your field"

Um NO

Seriously, did no one look at these 2 words and not notice that it is grammatically incorrect?

Unless someone can show me how it could be? I will assert I am not "the best" when it comes to grammar.

[unblock]

1. "Usually, using a noun indicator would be best."

[True Dough]

2. Maraya, you have used the DU to reach out to English teachers

and I think that be best under the circumstances.

[Maraya1969]

8. Wouldn't that be "IS best"? Or "Would be best"?

I'm tho confused.

[mr_lebowski]

35. "I think that would be best" is perfectly acceptable grammar.

U asked if 'be best' is ever grammatically correct, this is an example of how it could be used, and be 'correct'.

[DetlefK]

3. It's not a sentence, so it doesn't have to follow grammar.

Not english-teacher here, but there is no period at the end. That means, it's not a sentence, just a string of words. So, ordinary grammar doesn't apply.

The motto sounds weird but is okay.

Here's another example:
"be hungriest"
"drive angriest"
"print smallest"

It works.

[NCTraveler]

4. It would be best if one thought things all of the way through.

I am a grammatical train-wreck. Not sure if my sentence above qualifies as accurate.

It doesn’t need to be grammatically correct as a slogan. It’s not a sentence.

Got milk.

It just needs to be catchy.

[Maraya1969]

10. AH! Finally a sentence with the words that makes sense. But I also

get what you and others are saying that it is not a sentence so it doesn't have to be grammatically correct.

I remember an ad campaign for, (I think) bananas. It said, "Bananas, the world's perfect food"

That sentence bothered the heck out of me. I thought the word, "most" should be in front of "perfect". Otherwise they were saying that the world only had one perfect food. Hey, I guess that is what they were saying!

Again me:

[marylandblue]

5. It would be best if you studied more grammar.

My problem with the slogan is not the grammar, but ithat it's generic. Be best at what? Her husband is the best at twitter insults. Also many people say the best President in history. Do those count?

[kentuck]

6. It would be best not to discuss that at this time...

[Exotica]

37. Thread winna (from a Brit btw)

[samnsara]

7. i guess shes wanting american kids to dumb down for donnie

[Blue_Adept]

9. It's not a sentence, it's a slogan

[brush]

13. Why not get it right though? Doesn't she have writers to help her?

We don't need English-as-a-second-language-sounding slogans out of the WH.

There's already enough claptrap coming out of this administration.

They need to BE BETTER.

[Blue_Adept]

20. Language is fluid

Hell, linguists are loving how language is working these days. There's such a fast pace of evolution of it that normally happens over generations of speakers that they're busier than ever.

I wish I still had a link to some of the articles about it. It was fascinating in how they were seeing such easily identifiable trends in language shifts in near real time.

edit: here's one

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/booksblog/2017/dec/07/internet-online-news-social-media-changes-language

[brush]

22. It's not that fluid. "Be best" just adds to the lowering of standards by this WH.

[Maraya1969]

27. That is it. It sounds like something a person who speaks English

as a second language would say. But she is surrounded by people whose first language is English so it shouldn't happen

It sounds foreign.

[Nevernose]

28. It's only a slogan

If you’re Frankenstein or Tarzan.

“Bully bad! Fire bad! Be best!”

Otherwise it’s just semi-coherent gobbledygook.

[eShirl]

11. Be best. Run fastest. Go furthest. Reach highest.

implied is, in comparison to others

in essence, be superior

[louis-t]

12. 'Be best' still sounds stupid.

Then again, look who came up with it.

[eShirl]

14. I swear I heard it or similar in an anime

words of encouragement to a teen student leaving to take exams

[louis-t]

18. Wouldn't surprise me. I expect it will fall flat.

Just not something that is likely to catch on.

[Blue_Adept]

29. None of this stuff ever catches on

I can't think of any truly successful campaign beyond 'just say no' and we now how awful that was.

[brush]

16. Right. It sounds like her speech writers weren't consulted at all.

No English-as-a-first-language editor/writer would ok that.

OTOH an English-as-a-second-language person...

[Maraya1969]

26. It seems like it should be, Be the best. Best here is a noun I believe

[pnwmom]

36. But "Be the best" means the same thing and is grammatically correct. Or "do your best."

In either case, once again I feel sorry for Barron.

[milestogo]

15. It would be best if Trump left the country and never came back.

[Ron Obvious]

17. When a method actor lands the role of George Best in a biopic movie

Telling him "Be Best", would be correct.

[stonecutter357]

19. it's russian bot speak ..

[Golden Raisin]

21. English syntax/grammar a la Ljubljana.

[oberliner]

23. Yes

It would be best
English vocabulary and translations


it would be best (if you called her): the best thing to do would be, the best option would be (to call her)
idiom

it would be best that/if (you left): the most appropriate thing for you to do would be (to leave)
idiom
Examples

"Anyway, despite your commendable efforts, I have decided it would be best to hire the janitor through a cleaning agency."


https://www.gymglish.com/en/english-translation/it-would-be-best

[comradebillyboy]

24. In her defense, Melanoma doesn't speak English very well.

[defacto7]

25. There's nothing actually wrong with it as a slogan

It's that double "b" that makes it sound.... unusual. Some combinations in English are just strange. Rubber baby buggie bumpers... it's the b's.
I think also the idea of "best" needs softening or it's kind of elitest. Just being best is like clawing to the top where only one person can fit or ruling the masses from the top of the pile.

[lunasun]

30. Opposite of be worst?

Missing a determiner , like be the best or be your best, or trump could be the worst ever , etc.
I think

[IronLionZion]

33. So don't be like her own family

[Demsrule86]

31. A first lady who doesn't speak English well ( she speaks multiple languages- my ass)

was helped to say what her focus as a first lady would be in ungrammatical basically broken English...awful. Typical Trump administration shit...worst worst in our history. I could have written a better statement in any language using google translator.

[IronLionZion]

32. Donald is the best so how could anyone else be best?

Unless the message was for Donald. Since she spoke about cyber-bullying, it might be for him.

[HopeAgain]

34. As a slogan, it may not have to be grammatical...

but what does it mean? A good slogan would point you in the direction of a behavior, a goal or a program. Be best at what? This is way too general. I mean her husband is the best, the best at lying. Does that count?

[SoCalDem]

38. in an "ESL" sensibility, it's probably fine

Like "Me first" from a toddler is okay,

but from another standpoint, Melania should have worked with some savvy marketer who might have steered her to a phrase that was more "pleasing to the ear"....and who might have talked Donald's folks out of saying Melania "created" a document that was so easy to source..(and proved yet another lie)

[no_hypocrisy]

39. Best is not commonly used as an adverb.

Best is usually an adjective or a verb. As a superlative, it is used to describe an action rather than a status. (John throws best or John throws the best.)

"Be best" is an incomplete thought and conveys no message, as opposed to "Do your best".

[Alethia Merritt]

41. However, you just used it as a noun. ;)

[Alethia Merritt]

40. The subject is understood to be "You".

Thus, the sentence seems to be grammatically correct. It would just sound better if it were "Be the best."

[planetc]

43. Yes, it's a correct Hortatory sentence.

Back in the dark ages, when I learned grammar, right after the teacher explained that a sentence must always have both a subject and a predicate, she explained that hortatory sentences have a subject that's understood rather than stated. So, the structure of hortatory sentences is: [You], Help me! or [You], Be best!

So the writer is perfectly within his or her grammatical rights to use a hortatory sentence, but an exclamation point would have helped. But even with one, many people would have jumped on it for being ungrammatical because it's socially acceptable to jump on Mrs. Trump. To the jumpers I say: Be Nice!

[politicaljunkie41910]

42. Actually a lot of people looked at it and noticed it was grammatically incorrect. Unfortunately

it wasn't the people who could have made a difference before the decision was made. Of course Melania probably doesn't think it was a mistake, because she owns it. But imagine what the response would have been if Michelle Obama had made "Be Best" the name of a FLOTUS program directed at young school age children. They would have tried to run her and her husband out of town for trying to ghetto-rize the nation's children and turning them into hood-lings with that kind of street talk, while undermining the values they were trying to teach them at home.