I have this sentence:”The work was excellent and received the top score in the class.” At here, does “the top” only mean that the No.1, or it can have the same meaning as “among the top”?
Answer
“The top score in the class” unambiguously means the highest grade. It is possible for multiple people to have the top score, but only if they had exactly the same score.
If Bob and Sally got a 95, Jim got a 94, and the rest of the class got below 90 then both Bob and Sally got “the top score” and Jim didn’t.
When we say “among the top scores” there’s a key difference: scores is plural. Jim got one of “the top scores” because the “s” allows for there being multiple scores under consideration. “The top score” is 95, but “the top scores” is the set {94, 95}.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : The R , Answer Author : Stella Biderman
