Superlatives — “The Most ...”

A superlative expresses the highest degree among three or more things: “the most ...” The ending of an adjective or adverb changes to -est, or most is placed before it.

Basic Rules

The patterns for forming superlatives are the same as for comparatives: ① Short words take -est (tall → tallest, fast → fastest). ② Long words take most (beautiful → most beautiful). ③ Irregular changes (good → best, bad → worst, many/much → most, little → least).
The must always come before an adjective in the superlative form (the tallest, the most beautiful). With adverbs, the may sometimes be omitted, but at middle-school level it is fine to use the consistently.
To express “among,” distinguish between in (a place or group) and of (among multiple things): in his class / in Japan, of the three / of all the students.

Points to Note

① An adjective in the superlative form must have the: “She is tallest in her class.” is incorrect. Use “the tallest.”
② Distinction between in and of: a singular place or group → in (in Japan / in his class / in the world). Multiple objects → of (of the three / of all my friends / of the five girls).
③ To strengthen a superlative, use by far / much + superlative (“by far the most ...”). “This is by far the best book.”
④ A comparative can express the same meaning as a superlative: “No other student in the class is taller than Tom. = Tom is the tallest student in the class.” This is common in rewriting questions.
⑤ one of the + superlative + plural noun: use a plural noun, as in “one of the best players.”

Practice

1. Write “This book is the most interesting of the three books” in English.
2. Write “Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan” in English.
3. Write “He is one of my best friends” in English using one of the.