Superlative Adjectives
The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular quality within a group or of its kind. Superlative adjectives normally come before any other adjectives.
| Snowdon is not the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis is. | ||
| Mount Snowdon is 3,559 feet high. | Ben Nevis is 4,408 feet high. |
The rule for forming the superlative is any one syllable adjective add -est to the end of the word. Any longer adjective (two syllables or more) use most in front of the word. Usually superlatives are preceded by 'the'.
For example:
- "Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.", 'high' is a short (one syllable) word.
- "Arguably, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world.", beautiful is a long word.
The following adjectives are exceptions to this rule:
- 'good' becomes 'the best'
- 'bad' becomes 'the worst'
- 'far' becomes 'the farthest' or 'the furthest'