What is a superlative?

 

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Feel free to leave a comment if you find any errors or if you have any suggestions to make to improve this lesson.

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Superlative is used to say that a thing, a person or an idea has more (or less) particularity than other similar things.

To do this, we use superlative adjectives:

Look at the following examples:

• The Everest is the highest mountain in the world. 
• Nathan is the best football player in the team.

Now let’s look at the formation of English superlative adjectives. There are several types:

Adjectives with one syllable:

Examples: fast, great, quick, short, tall…

it is necessary to add -est

• cheap → the cheapest 
• high → the highest

Adjectives with one syllable ending in “e”:

Ex: close, huge, large, strange…

it is necessary to add -st

• nice → the nicest 
• wise → the wisest

Adjectives that end in consonant/vowel/consonant:

Ex: fat, red, sad, thin…

it is necessary to add a consumption + -est

• big → the biggest
• hot → the hottest

Adjectives in two syllables ending with -y:

Ex: heavy, tiny…

it is necessary to replace the -y by -iest

• happy → the happiest
• crazy → the craziest 
• early → the earliest 
• easy → the easiest 
• pretty → the prettiest 

Adjectives in two or more syllables:

Ex: important, delicious, generous…

It’s necessary to add the most/the least 

• beautiful → the most beautiful 
• expensive → the most expensive 

Superlative irregular adjectives:

• good → the best
• bad → the worst
• far → the furthest 
• little → the smallest

To say that two things are equal: As… as…

We use as + adjective + as to say that two things are similar or equal:

• He’s as tall as me.
• Tom’s bike is as fast as mine.

We use not as + adjective + as to say that two things are not equal:

• Danny’s car is not as fast as mine.

⚠️ Superlatives can be modified with by, far, easily and nearly:

• Ti Amo is by far the best restaurant in town.
• She’s nearly the oldest in the class.

⚠️ If there is a possessive in the sentence, we do not use ‘the’ with the adjective superlative:

• Her strongest point is her ambition.

⚠️ Be careful not to confuse superlatives and comparisons!

 

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Tags: Grammar