The adequate is good enough.
[If I wrote in a letter of recommendation that someone was an adequate candidate that would probably the kiss of death. But why? Putative explanation 1: It is a tautology that the adequate is good enough. However, it is only a tautology if the same context is held fixed throughout the sentence. Thus, someone might be adequate as a student, but not good enough for admission to a highly competitive program. Putative explanation 2: Letters of recommendation are overblown.]
