superlative adjective without a following noun – English Grammar Profiler

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Let’s look at an example of a ‘superlative adjective without a following noun‘ recorded in a real speaking test where two people are discussing social networking.

TLC male Spanish B1

What is the meaning of this grammar?

  • “One of the most common disadvantages“ = The noun is already understood from the previous sentence.
  • ‘one of‘ means that there are many that are the most common, but the student is not going to tell us all of them.

In the English Grammar Profile, there are two similar grammar points in the category of Adjectives:

A2 Point 25

‘the’ with a limited range of superlative adjectives without a following noun, when the noun is understood

B2 Point 58

‘(one of) the’ with an increasing range of superlative adjectives without a following noun, when the noun is understood.

However, at C2, note the vocabulary range for the superlative time phrases in the English Vocabulary Profile:

I’m expecting to hear from my mother by Friday at the latest.

listen

It‘s the weekend.
It won’t ship until Monday at the earliest.

listen

A B2 Example with the same superlative:

Scientists in the modern era would spend a couple of hundred years figuring out the answer to this question. 

Isaac Newton was one of the earliest.

In this example, we can see that Isaac Newton was one of the earliest scientists.

Here is a list of the most common superlative adjectives after ‘one of’ ranked in order of most frequent:

with An iWeb search for one of the _JJT .

The following information does not consider that the noun has not been mentioned:

An increasing range is demonstrated by their following examples with POS and punctuation to extend into iWeb corpus:

the_AT most_RGT embarrassing_JJ ._. the_AT greatest_JJT ._. the_AT worst_JJT ._.

“The most embarrassing” is not located in the top 100, so probably a poor choice as an example of what vocabulary choices to learn.

In green is what would make sense to teach to an upper-intermediate class:

A search in iWeb for

the most _JJT

1 THE MOST IMPORTANT . 7596

2 THE MOST COMMON . 4959

A further search for 5 collocates to the left of “the most common.”:
1 ARE (VBR ) 1805


2 BEING (VBG ) 623


3 FAR (RR22 ) 228


4 PROBABLY (RR ) 163


5 AMONG (II ) 144

3 THE MOST POPULAR. 4887

4 THE MOST EFFECTIVE. 2511

5 THE MOST EXPENSIVE. 2468

6 THE MOST VULNERABLE. 1490

“The most vulnerable” would be best for a more advanced student.

7 THE MOST HIGH . 1478 8 THE MOST DIFFICULT . 1312 9 THE MOST FUN . 1148 10 THE MOST INTERESTING . 1127 11 THE MOST SUCCESSFUL . 1036 12 THE MOST POWERFUL . 945 13 THE MOST RECENT . 879 14 THE MOST DANGEROUS . 855 15 THE MOST USEFUL . 852 16 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL . 798 17 THE MOST FAMOUS . 775 18 THE MOST COMFORTABLE . 753 19 THE MOST CHALLENGING . 745 20 THE MOST EFFICIENT . 739 21 THE MOST ACCURATE . 697 22 THE LEAST EXPENSIVE . 673 23 THE MOST REWARDING . 643 24 THE MOST GOOD . 611 25 THE MOST VALUABLE . 593 26 THE MOST SIGNIFICANT . 576 27 THE MOST OBVIOUS . 572 28 THE MOST MEMORABLE . 567 29 THE MOST RELIABLE . 528 30 THE MOST HELPFUL . 523 31 THE MOST APPROPRIATE . 497 32 THE MOST IMPRESSIVE . 480 33 THE MOST PROMINENT . 472 34 THE MOST LIKELY . 445 35 THE MOST COMPLEX . 435 36 THE MOST VERSATILE . 434 37 THE MOST CRITICAL . 410 38 THE MOST EXCITING . 403 39 THE MOST AFFORDABLE . 400 40 THE MOST CONVENIENT . 359 41 THE MOST PRODUCTIVE . 354 42 THE MOST BENEFICIAL . 335 43 THE MOST INFLUENTIAL . 317 44 THE MOST ATTRACTIVE . 316 45 THE MOST PREVALENT . 311 46 THE LEAST IMPORTANT . 305 47 THE MOST SERIOUS . 300 48 THE MOST ACTIVE . 297 49 THE MOST NOTABLE . 284 50 THE MOST PROFITABLE . 281 51 THE MOST SEVERE . 274 52 THE MOST DESIRABLE . 264 53 THE MOST SUITABLE . 264 54 THE MOST ADVANCED . 259 55 THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL . 255 56 THE MOST AFFECTED . 253 57 THE MOST PROMISING . 234 58 THE MOST RELEVANT . 232 59 THE MOST ENJOYABLE . 228 60 THE MOST DURABLE . 227 61 THE MOST UNIQUE . 226 62 THE MOST POTENTIAL . 223 63 THE MOST PRACTICAL . 221 64 THE MOST CRUCIAL . 213 65 THE MOST STABLE . 205 66 THE MOST SECURE . 200 67 THE MOST WELL-KNOWN . 198 68 THE MOST ECONOMICAL . 196 69 THE MOST COMPETITIVE . 195 70 THE MOST INTRIGUING . 191 71 THE MOST COMPLICATED . 189 72 THE MOST CURRENT . 184 73 THE MOST SENSITIVE . 183 74 THE MOST APPEALING . 181 75 THE MOST ACCESSIBLE . 179 76 THE MOST PROBLEMATIC . 179 77 THE MOST AGGRESSIVE . 172 78 THE MOST SPECTACULAR . 168 79 THE MOST COSTLY . 167 80 THE MOST COMPELLING . 167 81 THE MOST BASIC . 166 82 THE MOST SATISFYING . 166 83 THE MOST CONSISTENT . 165 84 THE MOST ENTERTAINING . 158 85 THE MOST INTENSE . 158 86 THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD . 157 87 THE LEAST EFFECTIVE . 156 88 THE MOST POTENT . 156 89 THE MOST FRUSTRATING . 153 90 THE MOST PAINFUL . 153 91 THE MOST NATURAL . 152 92 THE MOST USED . 150 93 THE MOST CREATIVE . 148 94 THE MOST VISIBLE . 144 95 THE MOST SURPRISING . 143 96 THE MOST MERCIFUL . 141 97 THE MOST DRAMATIC . 141 98 THE MOST DELICIOUS . 139 99 THE MOST ESSENTIAL . 137

100 THE MOST FASCINATING . 135

1 THE BEST. 117807

2 THE WORST. 21037 

3 THE FULLEST. 7246
4 THE LATEST. 5531

5 THE GREATEST. 4533 

My grandmother was the greatest.

TED

6 THE SLIGHTEST. 4383

7 THE LOWEST. 4216 8 THE HIGHEST. 3864 9 THE EARLIEST 3756

10 THE HARDEST. 3752

For the rest of the results, we had AI give us topics:

Size

  • THE LONGEST. 3426
  • THE LARGEST. 2455
  • THE BIGGEST. 1906
  • THE SMALLEST. 1387
  • THE SHORTEST. 523
  • THE HEAVIEST. 354
  • THE LIGHTEST. 337
  • THE WIDEST. 145
  • THE THINNEST. 123

Speed

  • THE FASTEST. 3181
  • THE SLOWEST. 514
  • THE QUICKEST. 784

Ease

  • THE EASIEST. 2527
  • THE SIMPLEST. 962

Cost

Strength

  • THE STRONGEST. 2028
  • THE WEAKEST. 767

Age

  • THE OLDEST. 1374
  • THE YOUNGEST. 1058
  • THE NEWEST. 363
  • THE ELDEST. 261

Humor

Proximity

  • THE CLOSEST. 837
  • THE FARTHEST. 316
  • THE FURTHEST. 284

Safety

Wealth

  • THE POOREST. 763
  • THE RICHEST. 305
  • THE WEALTHIEST. 213

Intelligence

Uniqueness

Depth

Height

Cleanliness

Fear Factor

Temperature

  • THE COLDEST. 182
  • THE WARMEST. 167

A2:
brightest, busiest, coolest, deepest, driest, earliest, farthest, fittest, healthiest, heaviest, highest,

largest, loudest, lowest, prettiest, quietest, richest, simplest, softest, strangest, strongest, thinnest, widest B1:

eldest, furthest, rarest, scariest, sharpest, smartest, smoothest, tastiest, weakest