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The night couldn’t have been better (with or without) you girls!

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?

2 Answers

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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