Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Name the best

After this lesson you can

I can say that something is the biggest, the best or the worst in its group.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

The superlative is made the same way as the comparative, but with the.

how examples
one syllable the + -est cheap → the cheapest, big → the biggest
two syllables ending in -y the + -iest happy → the happiest
long adjectives the most + the word the most expensive, the most interesting

The same four exceptions: good → the best, bad → the worst, far → the furthest, little → the least.

the is necessary here — the thing is the only one of its kind in its group, and this is exactly the article rule from A1 #14.

Two prepositions after the superlative:

in — with a place the biggest city in the world
of — with a group the best of all, the youngest of my friends

one of the + superlative + plural: Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest cities in South America. The noun here must be plural — we are talking about one of several.

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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

The superlative without the

✗ It's biggest city

✗ most expensive hotel

✓ the biggest city

the most expensive hotel. Learners whose language has no articles — Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Turkish, Polish — lose it here most often.

2

The comparative with the

✗ the more expensive hotel in the city

✓ the most expensive hotel

In French (le plus cher), Spanish (el más caro), Italian and Portuguese the superlative is the comparative with an article; English has its own form.

3

of with a place

✗ the biggest city of the world

✓ the biggest city in the world

French (du monde), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German say "of the world". With a place it is in; of is for a group.

4

A singular after one of

✗ one of the biggest city

✓ one of the biggest cities

In Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese a noun does not change for many things.

Pronunciation

3 min

The strong stress is on the adjective; the is unstressed:

It's the biggest city in the country. This is the best one.

the before most sounds /ðə/, and before a vowel /ði/: the oldest /ði ˈəʊldɪst/ — the rule from A1 #14 once more.

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Text

3 min

Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest cities in South America. The oldest part of the city is the centre. It's also the most interesting area. For me the best month in Rio de Janeiro is May, and the worst is February — it's the hottest month of the year.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. São Paulo is (big) city in Brazil
  2. This is (expensive) hotel in the centre
  3. It was (bad) day of my life
  4. May is (good) month here
Show the answers
the biggest, the most expensive, the worst, the best.

2. Gap fill.

  1. the biggest city the world
  2. the youngest my friends
  3. the best month the year
Show the answers
in; of; of / in.

3. Error correction.

  1. São Paulo is biggest city.
  2. It's most expensive hotel.
  3. It's one of the biggest city in the world.
Show the answers
São Paulo is the biggest city. / It's the most expensive hotel. / It's one of the biggest cities in the world.

4. Matching.

  1. good
  2. bad
  3. big
  4. interesting
Show the answers
good — the best; bad — the worst; big — the biggest; interesting — the most interesting.
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Summary

Covered

  • the superlative with the
  • four exceptions
  • in and of
  • one of the

Next — lesson 9: how to talk about the future.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 45

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

12 words
  • the best /ðə ˈbest/ superlative of good: better than all the others
  • the worst /ðə ˈwɜːst/ superlative of bad: worse than all the others
  • world /wɜːld/ the Earth with all its countries and people
  • part /pɑːt/ one of the pieces that make a whole
  • dark /dɑːk/ with little or no light
  • light /laɪt/ full of light; not dark
  • young /jʌŋ/ not old
  • famous /ˈfeɪməs/ known by a lot of people
  • popular /ˈpɒpjələ/ liked by a lot of people
  • beautiful /ˈbjuːtɪfl/ very nice to look at
  • terrible /ˈterəbl/ very bad
  • life /laɪf/ the time when someone is alive

Writing

Four sentences: the best and the worst things in your city, your favourite month.

Example

Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest cities in South America. The oldest part is the centre. The best month here is May, and the worst is February. For me, it's the best city in the world.

Checklist

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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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