How to form the superlative form of adjectives|grammar lesson

Forming Superlative Adjectives

Adjectives can be of:

one syllable (tall, young, old etc)
two syllables (early, modern, stressed etc)
or more syllables (intelligent, expensive, beautiful etc)

The English language tries to be efficient and practical

– we add -est to the end of an adjective if it is possible (tallest, youngest);
if not
– we add most before the adjective (most expensive, most beautiful)

Check how to form Comparative adjectives

Changes made to ordinary adjectives to form superlative adjectives:

One-syllable adjectives

1- Adjectives of one syllable that finish with “e”: we add “st” to the end of the adjective

wise > wisest; strange > strangest; close > closest

2- Adjectives of one syllable that end with one vowel and one consonant (thin, big, red, fat): we double the last consonant and add –est to the end of the adjective.

thin becomes thinnest; big becomes biggest and red becomes reddest

3- Adjectives of one syllable that finish with a consonant and “y” (dry, wry); sometimes we change the “y” for an “i” and then add –er – check a good dictionary.

dry becomes driest; but wry can be wriest or wryest

4- All other Adjectives of one syllable

for example:

– Adjectives that finish with two consonants: tall, young
– Adjectives that finish with two vowels and one consonant: proud, loud, great
– Adjectives that finish with one vowel and “w“: slow, new

we add -est to the end of the adjective

tall becomes tallest; young becomes youngest

short > shortest; strong > strongest; fast > fastest; hard > hardest; old > oldest

Proud becomes proudest; loud becomes loudest; fair becomes fairest
Slow becomes slowest; new becomes newest; few becomes fewest

Two-syllable adjectives

1- two-syllable adjectives ending in “y” (cloudy, pretty, silly, guilty etc); we change the “y” for an “i” and then add –est

cloudy > cloudiest; pretty > prettiest; silly > silliest; guilty > guiltiest

2- Some other two-syllable adjectives, many with the stress on the first syllable (narrow, simple, clever, quiet); we add –est to the adjective

narrow > narrowest; simple > simplest; clever > cleverest; quiet > quietest; gentle > gentlest; yellow > yellowest

3- With many two-syllable adjectives, including ones that end with “e“,(handsome, polite, common) –est or most can be used.

handsome > handsomest/most handsome; polite > politest/ most polite; common > commonest/ most common

4- Two-syllable adjectives ending in –ing, –ed, –ful and –less (willing, thrilling, pointed, muted, thoughtful, worthless) can only be used with most

willing > most willing; thrilling > most thrilling; pointed > most pointed; thoughtful > most thoughtful; worthless > most worthless
*** check a good dictionary if you are not sure

Longer adjectives

1- Words like unlucky (the opposite of 2 syllable adjectives ending in –y) are an exception; we change the “y” for an “i” and then add –est

unlucky > unluckiest; untidy > untidiest; unhappy > unhappiest

2- Compound adjectives with good or well have two possible comparative forms:

good-looking > best-looking or most good-looking

well-known > best-known or most well-known

3- Adjectives of three or more syllables (wonderful, valuable, intelligent) , we add most

wonderful > most wonderful; valuable > most valuable; intelligent > most intelligent, incredible > most incredible

Irregular adjectives when comparing

good > best John is the best at maths in his school.
bad > worst The weather today is the worse this month.
ill > worst I think ill of all James’s family, but it’s his father I think the worst of.
far > furthest/ farthest Hawaii is the furthest of all the USA states from Florida * furthest or farthest can be used in superlatives with far, it is generally a pronunciation preference. I personally use furthest to avoid confusion with father
old > oldest/ eldestr oldest is used for people or things , eldest is used for relatives (family members)
My car is the oldest in my street. My sister Liz is the eldest of all my brothers and sisters.