Are the following two structures related?
The text is best interpreted by reference to the classical era
We had better interpret the text by reference to the classical era
In other words, is the first example a version of the second, or does "best" define "interpreted" (as in, "it is interpreted in the best manner" or something)?
Thank you.
I don't have a source to prove this but I would say the two aren't related, except in the obvious way that they both use a form of the word "good" in a way that makes sense given the meaning of that word.
The text is best interpreted by reference to the classical era
"Best" here does define "interpreted" and I would say if you had to look for an alternate form that means the same thing (and that this one might derive from), it would be "The best way of interpreting this text is by reference to the classical era". It might simply be a form of a general "adverb - verb in past participle" form, like "this was nicely done".
We had better interpret the text by reference to the classical era
The reason I wouldn't say this is a version of the previous sentence is that it sounds like you're trying to rephrase it in an active form with "We" as subject instead of "The text", and you found yourself using "had better" which is similar to "best" so you thought the two might be linked in this transformation. I would argue that this isn't the case, and that there isn't a single obvious way of re-writing the above sentence in active form, and that different ways won't match up the same. For example if I had to convert the first sentence to an active form I think my first thought would have been:
We would do best to interpret the text by reference to the classical era
Where I think "best" actually might match up in the way you suggest. Not sure though.
But at the end of the day, the transformation you did was from "This is the superior option" to -> "We should pick the superior option", and "had better" is one possible way of expressing the idea of "should". But you could have said:
We ought to interpret the text by reference to the classical era
and I think the relationship between the two sentences, how similar and different their meanings were, would have been roughly the same as in the example that uses "had better".
I won't go into the specific differences in what the sentences mean because I think Amit Mittal's answer does that fine.
The difference is that one is "well, better, best" and the other is "good, better best"
The text is best (=in its finest form) [when it is] interpreted by reference to the classical era. - Well, better, best - The adverbial clause [when it is] interpreted by reference to the classical era is passive.
The active form is:
Reference to the classical era interprets the text well/ better/ best. (Adverb)
We had (subjunctive) better (it would be good, better, best for us to) interpret the text by reference to the classical era. Good, better, best. (Adjective)
The interpretation of the text would be good/ better/ best by reference to the classical era.
The good - better - best attribute in the first example attaches to the task - if the "advice" is not followed, the interpretation will be adversely affected.
The good - better - best attribute in the second example attaches to the addressee (us = our wellbeing / best interests) - if the advice is not followed, we will be adversely affected.
