You are the best.
You work the hardest.
You have the brightest smile, and you are my most dedicated student.
No, I'm not trying to flatter you, I was giving you some examples of superlatives.
‘Superlative’ means ‘of the highest quality or degree’.
You cannot go any further than a superlative.
For example, you can't be taller than the tallest,
or louder than the loudest or better than the best.
Here the superlative words our ‘tallest’, ‘loudest’ and ‘best’.
“You should pick me to be in your show. After all, I am the best dancer in the world.”
“Don't compare me to David. He is the worst cook in the kitchen.”
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Now, we're going to go through some adjectives and the superlative form of each adjective.
I'll say the adjective first, and I'll give you a second to guess the superlative form before I
reveal the answer. Now these adjectives are for describing shape, and size. Let's go!
Big.
The superlative form is ‘biggest’.
Small.
Smallest.
Tall.
Tallest.
Short.
Shortest.
Fat.
Fattest.
Long.
Longest.
High.
Highest.
Low.
Lowest.
Round.
The most round.
Not the roundest.
The most round.
Now before I continue with some more common superlatives. I want to touch on..
Oh, ‘touch on’ means to briefly discuss. I want to touch on “The Rule of THE”. Nouns with
superlative adjectives usually use ‘the’ because there is just one of that thing, that noun.
The thing. Okay?
So, for example.
“This is the hottest day...”
We wouldn't say “This is hottest day...”
“This is the hottest day of the year so far.”
“I am the luckiest woman alive.”
“This is the best way to learn.”
“Julia and Benjamin are the most loyal students.”
Of course, English isn't straightforward.
‘Straightforward’ means simple.
English isn't straightforward, and there are exceptions to this rule.
Firstly, we don't use ‘the’ if there is a possessive like ‘my’, ‘her’.
For example.
“Mr. Smith is her favourite teacher.”
“This is my eldest brother.”
“This is our most recent article.”
The next exception is when talking informally, then you can drop ‘the’
if the superlative is used later in the sentence and not directly before the noun.
Here's an example.
“Mums gravy (there's the noun) ... Mum’s gravy is most delicious.
So, you could say “Mum’s gravy is the most delicious.” or drop it informally.
“Mom's gravy is most delicious.”
“This house (now is your noun) ... This house is the biggest.”
Could be, “This house is biggest.”
For sure this house is biggest.
“Which song is longest?”
“Which song is the longest” or “Which song is longest?”
Okay, let's go through some other commonly used
superlatives that you should have in your vocabulary bank.
To describe the quality of something you can use ‘fine’.
And what's the superlative of ‘fine’?
Finest.
“Oh, the pillowcase was made from the finest silk.”
How about ‘fun’?
‘The most fun’.
“She is the most fun of anyone I know.”
‘Funny’.
‘Funniest’.
“This is the funniest show in 20 years.”
‘Sweet’.
‘Sweetest’.
“He really is the sweetest boy.”
‘Rich’.
‘Richest’.
“Rishi Sunak is the richest politician to take the top job.”
‘Expensive’.
‘The most expensive’.
“Of all my books, this one was the most expensive.”
‘Cheap’.
‘Cheapest’.
“Don't buy the cheapest car it may not be reliable.”
‘Simple’.
‘Simplest’.
“We prefer using the simplest recipe.”
‘Cold’.
‘Coldest’.
“It's the coldest night of the year.”
‘Warm’.
‘Warmest’.
“This hot water bottle is the warmest.”
‘Hot’.
‘Hottest’.
“My tea is hottest.”
“My tea is THE hottest,” but I’m being informal.
“My tea is hottest.”
‘Lovely’.
‘Loveliest’.
“You are the loveliest student in my class.”
Okay, let's whip through some superlatives for
describing appearance. Now there are six adjectives coming up.
Can you correctly identify all six superlatives? Here goes:
‘pretty’,
‘prettiest’,
‘cute’,
‘cutest’,
‘ugly’,
‘ugliest’,
‘handsome’,
‘the most handsome’,
‘attractive’,
‘the most attractive’,
‘unattractive’
‘the most unattractive’.
How did you do?
Don't worry if you didn't get them all right. Just keep up the hard work
and you will be the fastest to get the correct superlative in future.
Okay, let's have one final go. Tell me the superlative
for these adjectives describing nature:
‘angry’,
‘angriest’,
‘happy’,
‘happiest’,
‘loud’,
‘loudest’,
‘calm’,
‘calmest’,
‘sad’,
‘saddest’,
‘fast’,
‘fastest’,
‘slow’,
‘slowest,
‘bright’,
‘brightest’,
‘dull’,
‘dullest’,
‘smart’,
‘smartest’,
‘quick’,
‘quickest’,
‘cool’,
‘coolest’.
Nice and easy, right? Or should I say, that was the easiest of all the lists.
Now before I go, here are four of the most
common irregular forms we have ‘good’ instead is ‘the best’.
So, something is ‘the most good’ then it's the best.
“I am the best mother in the world.”
According to my children.
Then we have ‘bad’. ‘The most bad’ would be ‘the worst’.
“My partner is the worst driver I have ever known.”
Then we have ‘little’. It would be ‘the least’.
“She spent the least amount of time working on this project.”
And finally, ‘far’ would be ‘furthest’.
“I have to travel the furthest. I came here from Egypt.”
And let me end with how we sometimes end a sentence containing a superlative. And these words
give the superlative more weight more emphasis, because they can't be any more. They are the top.
But if you want to emphasize it, then informally, you can use ‘ever’.
“This is the best day ever.”
You could also use ‘in the world’.
“You are the most helpful person in the world.”
Or if you really want to add a lot of emphasis,
you can combine the two and say, ‘in the world ever’.
“You have made me the happiest girl in the world ever.”
Thank you for watching. Until next time, take care and goodbye.