. . . . . . . . . . . . "Compared to its Competitors, a Standard is at the high end of a scale with respect to some Variable. The Competitors are frequently not realized syntactically.\nThe taxpayer is supporting a system unmatched in wastefulness .\nThe drawing room was a place of unmatched squalor.\n She was envious of her mother's matchless beauty.\nWhen there is no overt Variable it must be understood from the context. He was unmatched by any other politician of his time.\nWhen the target occurs as the modifier of a predicate nominal, it is tagged as Standard, rather than Variable.\n They were matchless needlers of each other."^^ . . . . . .