Superlatives - Basic Structures

By Johan, 13 August 2008 - 5:35pm
5
 
 
Contributing author(s): 
Matthew
Grammar name (English): 
Superlatives
Grammar name (日本語): 
最上級

Use a superlative to talk about limits: the best and worst, or the highest or lowest of a group. The most or the least.

There are two basic patterns:

1) MOST the most adjective the most interesting
the adjective + est the fastest
2) LEAST the least adjective the least interesting
the adjective + est the slowest

Superlative versus Comparative

Look at the superlative (~est) and the comparative (~er) to help you understand the difference:

A superlative sentence compares one thing with a whole group:

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

Mount Everest is compared to the whole group it belongs to. The group is 'all mountains in the world'. Mount Everest is higher than all mountains: it is the highest.

A comparative sentence compares one thing with another thing:

Mount Everest is higher than Mount Fuji.

Mount Everest is compared with one other mountain: Mount Fuji. It says nothing about other mountains. It is a comparative sentence.

Most

The superlative is made with ~est or using most before the adjective - these show the highest degree; the most; the first. Knowing whether to use ~est or most can be difficult:

 

Superlative adjectives (nearly) always use the:

the most adjective [NOUN]
 the most wonderful story
the adjective + est [NOUN]
 the easiest answer

Often we limit the group we are talking about:

the most adjective [NOUN] in GROUP the most exciting player in the NBA.
the adjective + est [NOUN] in GROUP
 the fastest runner in her school.

Least

Use ~est or least before the adjective to show the lowest degree; the least; the last. You should also use the and can limit the group.

the least adjective [NOUN] + GROUP the least expensive dish on the menu
the adjective + est [NOUN] + GROUP
 the slowest runner in her school.