Hi there :-) I think "longest" is an adverb in superlative (long, longer, longest) Greets, Franziska

"The" in "the longest" serves no purpose and can be omitted. "Of the statue" acts as an adjective modifying "pose". It plays no role in our analysis, so I'll omit that as well. After a change of word order for easier understanding, we are left with "Whichever couple (who) can longest hold the pose wins." "whichever" is a determiner. It can be replaced (if we insert "who") with "that" or "the" with no change in meaning ("That couple (who) can longest hold the pose wins.") The only reason for choosing "whichever" rather than "the" or "that" is to emphasize a lack of restriction. "(who) can longest hold" is a subordinate clause acting as an adjective to modify "couple". "Longest" is an adverb that modifies the verb form "can hold".

Exactly! The main noun phrase in the sentence is "Whichever couple can hold the pose of the statue the longest," and the main verb is "wins." In this sentence, the noun phrase serves as the subject of the verb "wins." The entire phrase describes the condition or criteria for determining the winner of the competition. So, in simpler terms, the sentence is saying that the couple that can hold the pose of the statue the longest will be the winner.

Natural examples are The couple holding the pose of the statue longest wins. (‘The’ before longest is optional) The couple who can hold the pose … The couple that can hold the pose … Or Couples compete to hold the pose of the statue the longest.

the longest is adverb or noun?