Superlative

What Is a Superlative Adjective?

Are you unclear about just what is a superlative adjective? It's an adjective that takes a comparison to the highest degree. There are two types of adjectives that are used when comparing two or more nouns: comparative adjectives and superlative adjectives. Like all adjectives, comparative and superlative adjectives modify, or describe, a noun or pronoun by giving additional information about its appearance or other qualities.

While a comparative adjective describes the difference between two items, a superlative adjective compares three or more nouns. For example:

• My mother's cooking is the best in the family.

In this sentence, the superlative adjective best compares my mother's cooking to everyone else in the family. As it describes the highest degree of difference, hers is the most delicious. The highest degree could also be that her cooking is the worst, an equal but opposite superlative adjective. When using a superlative adjective, the thing being described is always on one end of the spectrum, never in the middle of the pack.

How to Form a Superlative Adjective

In general, superlative adjectives are formed by adding the suffix -est to an adjective. There are a few basic spelling rules to follow when forming a superlative adjective in this way:

• One-syllable words: Add -est to the word, as in strongest, tallest, and fastest. Sometimes this will require you to double the final letter of the original adjective, as in biggest and saddest.
• One- and two-syllable words ending in silent e: Add -st to the word, since the "e" is already in place. Note that doing this makes the "e" pronounced instead of silent. For example, rarest, finest and sanest.
• Two-syllable words ending in the letter y: Change the "y" to an "i" and add -est. For example, silliest, funniest, craziest.
• All other two-syllable words and words with additional syllables: Instead of adding a suffix, these words are made into a short adjective phrase by adding either most or least before the adjective. For example, most careful, most congenial, least restrictive, least invasive.

Comparing Adjectives

The best way to answer the question what is a superlative adjective is to look at how a regular adjective is transformed into both a comparative adjective and a superlative adjective. Consider these examples:

• old, older, oldest
• thin, thinner, thinnest
• curly, curlier, curliest
• nice, nicer, nicest
• simple, simpler, simplest
• gullible, more gullible, most gullible
• powerful, less powerful, least powerful
• famous, more famous, most famous
• upset, less upset, least upset

Now take a look at each of those superlative adjectives in action in a sentence:

• He is the oldest one at the country club.
• That is the thinnest dog in the kennel.
• You have the curliest hair I have ever seen.
• She was the nicest person there.
• Those are the simplest instructions.
• Mary is the most gullible person I know.
• That brand is the least powerful for getting out stains.
• Pavarotti was the most famous singer of the past century.
• I was the least upset of the team after the loss.

Note that when you use the words most and least in tandem with other adjectives, most and least technically become adverbs in your sentence. Remember that an adverb describes a verb, adverb or an adjective. So the superlative adjective phrase least upsetfunctions like an adjective in the sentence, but can be further broken down into two parts of speech: the main adjective and the adverb that describes it.

A Note About Most and Least

In both writing and speech, it's important to remember to use only one superlative form at a time. For example, you can either say something is the most funny or the funniest, but you cannot correctly say that something is the most funniest. Use either most/least or the -est suffix as described in the rules above, but do not combine them. Doing so is a grammatical error in English.

Enrich Your Description

Once you know how to form superlative adjectives, you'll be able to enrich your writing by making comparisons among three or more things. Taking the time to review the rules for correctly spelling and using superlative adjectives will make you more confident in your writing and speech.

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