Wednesday, May 27, 2015

meaning in context - as good ~ as I ever knew



“Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew.”
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)




What’s the meaning of the highlighted part?



Answer



Harry's mum was a good witch and his dad was a good wizard.



Yer mum and dad were a good witch an’ wizard.



How good were they? They were as good as any witch or wizard I ever knew.



Yer mum and dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew.




These constructions are maybe, possibly, just a little bit too colloquial for, say, an exceptionally dry academic journal; but anywhere else they’re fine.


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