please explain

[anglehemant]

please explain

Is the sentence 'one of the best batsmen' correct?

if yes, when you use 'one of---- the sentence should continue with a plural word.

in the above sentence it has.

but 'best' is a superlative word and naturally singular as there cannot be two best.

please help.

[Jenny 7]

I am not a teacher.


Yes, the sentence is correct.

{but 'best' is a superlative word and naturally singular as there cannot be two best}

It doesn't say 'best', it says 'one of the best', which is a plural.

[David L.]

In any one cricket season, you will have one batsman who stands out as 'the best'.
In a decade, then, you will have 10 batsman of all the cricketers who went to bat each year over the past 10 years, who are regarded as being the best cricketers in that decade.
If you single out and name one of them, then he is 'one of the best'.
OK?
Then, so far, so good.
BUT - what say in any one cricket season, we consider all the batsman in the English, Australian, West Indian etc etc teams?
Remember, that as the superlative - good, better, best - we are comparing and dividing into three...but this could be 3 individuals who are ranked as "he's good' - "he's better' - 'but he's the best'...
...or divide many into three groups of people: 'they're good, they're better, but they're the best'. Hence, single out one from the 'best' group, and we would say of him/her: "He's one of the best."
What's more - we then have the expression: "The best of the best" - that is, even within the group of 'the best', we could then continue to rank them and pick out the Number One of All Time.
Usually, that's where we stop - "The best of the best" and regard this as singular.
(But it might still be possible, depending on how fine your criteria are, to continue to subdivide 'the best', and pick out 'the best of the best of the best'!!)

We indicate in what we say, whether we mean 'best' as referring to one person/thing, or one group that we regard as the 'top' grouping`:
"What is the best film ever made?" - one film
"What are the best films released in the past year?" - a number of films (plural)