English Language & Usage Asked on December 6, 2020
The caption is “the night couldn’t have been better with you girls” but I was wondering, shouldn’t it be “without you girls”? Because you couldn’t have had a great time “without” the help of your friends. Am I right?
No, the sentence is correct. Couldn't be better or in this form, couldn't have been better is an idiom.
According to Free Dictionary, its meaning is:
(One's well-being or the state of something) is perfect, exactly as desired, or better than expected.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/couldn%27t+be+better
So we can interpret this sentence as follows:
The night was perfect/exactly as desired/better than expected with you girls.
Answered by Dennis on December 6, 2020
Your understanding of the words is correct; if something couldn't be better then it was unsurpassably good, or perfect.
Your parsing is off, however. It isn't
[the night couldn't have been better] [with you girls]
but that
[the night .. with you girls] [couldn't have been better]
Whether the participation of "you girls" was necessary for the goodness of the night was required is incidental to their presence at it.
Answered by choster on December 6, 2020
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