The is an adverb

[Grablevskij]

And there there were none by Agatha Christie.

I forgot to say that I returned the revolver to Lombard's room. It may be of interest to someone to know where it was hidden during I he search. There was a big pile of tinned food in the larder. I opened the bottom most of the tins—biscuits I think it contained, bedded in the revolver and replaced the strip of adhesive tape.

You know, I've just bought a Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. So if we have a look in it, we can find that the is an adverb in some cases.

the - adverb - used before an adjective or adverb to emphasize that something is bigger, better etc than all others, or as big, good etc as it is possible for it to be:
He likes you the best.
I had the worst headache last night.

If we were to think it over, we could agree. Anyway, the question is not about that. Maybe there is even no question here. Just a case that astonished me a little. First of all, who can help me to understand the sentence? Maybe we will compare our understandings. Then, if the is an adverb, is it a determiner or not? Ok, let's forget about any adverbs. It must be a determiner. But what does it determine? An adjective? Strange case. And what about that word bottom? Let us forget the bottom, it is just a characteristic that is properly put after the determiner and the word it defines. Look at the word most. It must be an adjective, though not all dictionaries state that. Hocus-pocus. And we know that a determiner stands in front of a noun, and any other words that show its qualities go between the determiner and the noun. But what about the case of an adjective?

Am I go off my head?
Anyway, I hope to hear your opinions.

Michael

 

[Anglika]

the bottommost of the tins = the tin that was at the bottom.

 

[Grablevskij]

Another point of view, now most is a suffix. You must know best.
And it is really more interesting than my point of view.
But how can we explain that Agatha Christie wrote it separately? Maybe a typo in my book?
If not, there is another question. How many tins were there in the bottommost row?
The definite article suggests us that there were as if one, yea?
As a matter of fact the ladder was full of tins.

Michael

 

[Anglika]

It is a well-known adjective. Check it in OneLook Dictionary Search

I think in your book it is a typo - it is normally spelled as one word. As a matter of interest, which edition are you reading?

There is nothing in the text to indicate that there was a row of tins. There is a pile of tins, and the speaker dug down to the bottommost tin - the one at the bottom of all the others. By saying "a pile", the implication is that the tins are one on top of another without any kind of order.

 

[Grablevskij]

Yes, the word is really famous.

About the edition of my book - it was published in Russia. And I acted against my conscience changing its name because it is a reprint of the British edition, which title sounds politically incorrect today. So I preferred to convert it into that of American one, on the heels of Agatha Christie. You can find more details here:
And Then There Were None - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you very much. But I'll try to control this typo looking through some other editions of this book.

Michael

 

[Grablevskij]

I have been to a bookshop and had a look at other editions. This doesn't seem to be a typo, in other books the sentence was written in the same way.

So, most is a suffix. Then another question appears. Is it possible that an suffix in an English word should separat from the word itself?

Michael

 

[Anglika]

It is a suffix, but a conjoined suffix. I can't lay my hands on a copy of And Then There Will Be None at this moment, but be assured, it is correctly "bottommost".

It is also possible that at some time the word was hyphenated and the hyphen has been lost.

The trouble with an author such as Agatha Christie, whose books are reprinted in incredible numbers, is that reprint and cheap paperback publishers do not necessarily proofread the books, so errors will continue to be printed indefinitely.

 

[Grablevskij]

Thank you.

Michael