The most basics of things.

[Ashraful Haque]

"How can a person so dumb, think he knows everything. He doesn't even understand the most basics of things."

I was talking about someone me and my fried think is really ignorant. I don't know if the sentence is correct, but my question is about the bolded part.

- The most basics of things.

1) Does leaving out 'most' make the sentence wrong? Or does it only deemphasize the sentence? (the basics of things)
2) I know we can say 'basics of ideas/things etc.' I can't think of any other words to use in this structure. (The most important of projects?)

 

[SoothingDave]

The most basic of things.

 

[Tarheel]

the most basic things

 

[Ashraful Haque]

the most basic things

I think 'the most basic of things' is stronger than 'the most basic things.' Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[emsr2d2]

They don't mean the same thing so you can't say that one of them is stronger" than the other.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

The most basic of things.

Thanks.
I don't really know where I picked it up, but again I was talking to a friend and said the following,

"In most cases success depends on how serious of a person you are."

Have I used the structure correctly?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

They don't mean the same thing so you can't say that one of them is stronger" than the other.

Thanks. It would really help me to understand the difference if you could give me some examples.

 

[emsr2d2]

"In most cases, success depends on how serious of a person you are."

Have I used the structure correctly?

Note my strikethrough above. I believe this is the case in BrE but not in AmE.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Note my strikethrough above. I believe this is the case in BrE but not in AmE.

You mean this structure isn't commonly used in AmE?

 

[emsr2d2]

You mean this structure isn't commonly used in AmE?

No. I mean that I believe AmE speakers include "of" but BrE speakers don't.

BrE: It depends [on] how serious a person you are.
AmE: It depends [on] how serious of a person you are.

 

[SoothingDave]

We can go either way.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

A: It's practically impossible to speak your second language like a native speaker.
B:I know someone who can.
C: Possibly in the rarest of cases.

Is this a good sentence?

 

[5jj]

Sentence C is not a natural follow-on from sentence B.

 

[Tarheel]

A: It's practically impossible to speak your second language like a native speaker.
B:I know someone who can.
C: That's quite unusual..