the highest standard / high standards / a high standard

U

uktous

Senior Member
cantonese
Hi,

Question:
Which sentence is more sensible?

Sentence1:
I want each teammate can deliver their work to the highest standard.
Sentence2:
I want each teammate can deliver their work to high standards.
Sentence3:
I want each teammate can deliver their work to a high standard.


My opinion:
For sentence1:
"the highest" means each member delivers their work to the same level of standard which is highest.
Not too sensible.
But just I want.

For sentence2:
All the work in our team will be in high standard, although may not be the highest.
More senisble.

For sentence3:
Similar as sentence 1.
Not too sensible.

Thanks
 
    • uktous said:
    Hi,

    Question:
    Which sentence is more sensible?

    Sentence1:
    I want each teammate can deliver their work to the highest standard.
    Sentence2:
    I want each teammate can deliver their work to high standards.
    Sentence3:
    I want each teammate can deliver their work to a high standard.


    My opinion:
    For sentence1:
    "the highest" means each member delivers their work to the same level of standard which is highest.
    Not too sensible.
    But just I want.

    For sentence2:
    All the work in our team will be in high standard, although may not be the highest.
    More senisble.

    For sentence3:
    Similar as sentence 1.
    Not too sensible.

    Thanks
    Click to expand...
    I want each teammate to work to the highest standard.

    Can is not the correct word here - use to. Deliver is not a good choice - how about just use work?
     
    teksch said:
    I want each teammate to work to the highest standard.

    Can is not the correct word here - use to. Deliver is not a good choice - how about just use work?
    Click to expand...


    "how about just use work? "

    Thank you for your opinion
     
    Hi uktous,
    In requests for good work such as this, I normally see either "to a high standard" or "to the highest standard".

    You could still use "to high standards", but I've rarely ever seen it used in this context, probably because using the plural for "standard" makes it sound vague. Since multiple standards are inferred by the plural, the teammates might interpret the instruction to mean their own individual standards, which they could set at whatever level they felt like. The singular "standard" on the other hand implies that there is a common standard that they all must attempt to meet.

    By the way, use of "can" as you've written it is not correct, you should substitute "can deliver" with "to deliver", since you need to follow "want" with an infinitive.

    So, the following would sound just fine:
    Sentence 1: "I want each teammate to deliver their work to the highest standard."
    Sentence 3: "I want each teammate to deliver their work to a high standard."

    Sentence 1 implies you expect each teammate to attempt to deliver work equal to the best possible.

    Sentence 3 implies you expect each teammate to attempt to deliver work that is commonly accepted as very good.

    I hope that helps!
     
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