Which season do you like (better / best), spring or winter? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

This is actually an interesting question.

The point is that you are given a choice between two items out of a group of four.

Suppose the season I like best is summer, I could not answer the question which season do you like best, spring or winter? in the expected way, by choosing one of the two options!

I think that in practice, many speakers will not make this subtle distinction. But if you look at it in more detail, when you ask about the best liked season, you should not limit the choices — you risk that the actual answer is not in those choices.

Suppose, indeed, my favourite season is summer:

Which season do you like best? Summer.
Which season do you like better, spring or winter? Spring, because it is more like summer!
Which season do you like best, spring or winter? Neither! I told you I like summer best!

Again, for many people there probably is hardly a difference (if any), but the same issue does of course arise in questions like:

(?)What fruit do you like best, apples or pears?
(?)What is the tallest building, the Eiffel tower or the Sears tower?
(?)What is your favourite drink, beer or wine?

If I like bananas best of all fruits, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building, and whiskey is my favourite drink, then the suggested options are all wrong. Chances are that what the asker actually wanted to know was:

What do you like better, apples or pears?
Which building is taller, the Eiffel tower or the Sears tower?
What would you like to drink, beer or wine?

Since they can get me either apples or pears and like to take into account my preference, or they are writing a piece comparing the two mentioned towers (and it is irrelevant whether there are taller ones) and they have beer and wine available and want to know what I prefer, not what my actual favourite drink is.

Solution 2:

Better is a comparative, best is a superlative. A choice of 2, should prefer the comparative. 3 or more then the superlative is used.

The question is perhaps better presented : Which season do you like more. Spring or Winter? Which season do you like most? (implied all seasons are candidates) see "Like something more" or "like something better"