Superlative Adjectives

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:

<LI class=style58>'good' becomes 'the best'
<LI class=style58>'bad' becomes 'the worst'

• 'far' becomes 'the farthest' or 'the furthest'