English 24
29th March 2003
A little bit of GRAMMAR

Hi guys!!! This week we came to the final part of our series on comparatives, finally it's the turn of Superlatives!

To form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs we use the ending "est" or we put "most" before the adjective or adverb. The rules are the same as those for the comparative, generally speaking the ending "est" for short adjectives or adverbs:
§ long longest hot hottest fast fastest
(although there are some exceptions.)

Whereas we generally put "most" before the adverbs or adjectives which have two syllables or more:
§ most famous most difficult most expensive

Example sentences:
§ Yesterday was the coldest day of the year
§ That was the most exciting film I've seen this year!
§ Elisa is one of the nicest people I know
§ She was wearing the most beautiful dress….
Tip: Don't forget we usually use "the" with superlatives:
§ The most exciting……. the easiest ….. the longest….

There are also the irregular superlatives: best and worst:
§ We had the most wonderful time! It was the best holiday I've ever had.
§ Why does the phone ring at the worst possible time?

If you remember we talked about older and elder a couple of lessons ago, well we're going to go over them again in the superlative form.
The superlative of older is oldest:
§ That old school on Tynemouth Road is the oldest school building in the area.
Now if you cast your mind back you'll recall that we use elder when we're talking about the members of a family.

Therefore in the superlative if we're talking about members of a family we use "eldest":
§ My eldest daughter is 15 years old.
§ My brother is the eldest in our family

Tip: We often use the present perfect tense after a superlative
§ That's the best present I've ever had.
§ That's the worst thing you've ever done.

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1
Write a new sentence with the same meaning using a superlative each time.
1.I've never read such a boring book.
2.I've never stayed in such an expensive hotel.
3.They've never had such a good holiday
4.She'd never bought such a cheap car.
5. She never ridden such a bad tempered horse.
6. They'd never eaten such a bad meal
7. I'd never slept in such a comfortable bed.
8. I'd never met such a generous person as Patricia

Answers

Exercise 1
1. That was the most boring book I've ever read.
2. It was the most expensive hotel I've ever stayed in.
3. It was the best holiday they've ever had
4. It is the cheapest car she's ever bought
5. It's the most bad tempered horse she's ever ridden.
6. It was the worse meal they'd ever eaten.
7. It was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.
8. Patricia is the most generous person I have ever met.