THE MOST | LEAST + superlative adjective phrase – English Grammar Profiler

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The phrases “the most” and “the least” are used in English to form the superlative degree of adjectives and adverbs.  “the most”  is used when you are comparing three or more things and you want to indicate that something has the highest degree or amount of a certain quality.  Similary, “The least” is used for the lowest…

You know, I may be the least qualified person to run this company.

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When adjectives or adverbs have two or more syllables, the superlative is formed by using the adverbs ‘most’ or ‘least’.  ‘Most’ is listed at A2 in the English Grammar Profile, so we presume the rarer ‘least’ should be at B1.

An iWeb search for: 

the most _JJ _NN

1 THE MOST IMPORTANT THING 69789

This is the most important thing, okay?

listen

2 THE MOST IMPORTANT PART 22968

It‘s the most important part of the story, the ending.

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3 THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 20263 A2

After that, the most important things are healthy foods.

PELIC STUDENT: Turkish, Male, Level 3, Writing Class.

4 THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY 16378

B1 if the phrase is followed by a prepositional phrase.  However, ‘EFFECTIVE’ is B2 vocabulary:

They have obviously decided keeping the children from Suu is the most effective way of breaking her spirit.

listen

5 THE MOST COMMON TYPE 13960 6 THE MOST COMMON CAUSE 13079 7 THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR 10862

8 THE MOST COMMON FORM 9399

9 THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT 8918 10 THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY 8882 11 THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS 8305 12 THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS 7705 13 THE MOST COMMON CAUSES 7391 14 THE MOST COMMON TYPES 6978 15 THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS 6864 16 THE MOST COMMON WAY 6310 17 THE MOST RECENT VERSION 6207 18 THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS 6145 19 THE MOST COMMON REASON 5953 20 THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS 5836 21 THE MOST DIFFICULT PART 5822 22 THE MOST COMMON REASONS 5340 23 THE MOST COMMON SYMPTOMS 4458 24 THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP 4238 25 THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION 3654 26 THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT 3610 27 THE MOST COMMON SIDE 3417 28 THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS 3368 29 THE MOST COMMON PROBLEMS 3336 30 THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION 3299 31 THE MOST COMMON METHOD 3267 32 THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION 3210 33 THE MOST INTERESTING THING 3126 34 THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES 3083 35 THE MOST COMMON WAYS 2984 36 THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE 2963 37 THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES 2962 38 THE MOST INTERESTING PART 2923 39 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES 2900 40 THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES 2893 41 THE MOST LIKELY CAUSE 2829 42 THE MOST CURRENT VERSION 2820 43 THE MOST RECENT DATA 2758 44 THE MOST BASIC LEVEL 2730 45 THE MOST DIFFICULT THING 2729 46 THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME 2704 47 THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL 2638 48 THE MOST COMMON USE 2623

49 THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE 2548

For results 50-100, we had AI do a regrouping:

1. Importance:

  • THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOLS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECES
  • THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS

2. Popularity:

  • THE MOST POPULAR ONES
  • THE MOST POPULAR CHOICE
  • THE MOST POPULAR TOURIST
  • THE MOST POPULAR WAY
  • THE MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS
  • THE MOST POPULAR TYPE
  • THE MOST POPULAR WAYS
  • THE MOST POPULAR TYPES

3. Commonality:

  • THE MOST COMMON ONES
  • THE MOST COMMON PROBLEM
  • THE MOST COMMON FORMS
  • THE MOST COMMON SYMPTOM
  • THE MOST COMMON ISSUES
  • THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE
  • THE MOST COMMON QUESTION

4. Effectiveness:

  • THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD
  • THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS
  • THE MOST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT

5. Excitement:

  • THE MOST EXCITING THING
  • THE MOST EXCITING PART

6. Beauty:

  • THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BEACHES

7. Advancement:

  • THE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

A2 vocabulary:

advanced, amazing, form, forms, information, level, means, mistake, mistakes, most, piece, pieces, point, popular, reason, reasons, side, tourist, type, types, way, ways, wonderful

the_A least _JJ _N

Here’s a grouping of the phrases by common adjectives along with their frequencies:

1. Common:

  • THE LEAST COMMON MULTIPLE (970)
  • THE LEAST COMMON DENOMINATOR (404)

2. Restrictive:

  • THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT (959)
  • THE LEAST RESTRICTIVE MEANS (235)

3. Expensive:

  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE OPTION (781)
  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY (724)
  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE WAYS (137)
  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE TYPE (132)
  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE METHOD (124)
  • THE LEAST EXPENSIVE OPTIONS (120)

4. Developed:

  • THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (641)

5. Significant:

  • THE LEAST SIGNIFICANT BIT (497)
  • THE LEAST SIGNIFICANT BYTE (133)
  • THE LEAST SIGNIFICANT DIGIT (120)

6. Important:

  • THE LEAST IMPORTANT PART (228)
  • THE LEAST IMPORTANT THING (133)

7. Possible:

  • THE LEAST POSSIBLE AMOUNT (178)

8. Interesting:

  • THE LEAST INTERESTING PART (154)
  • THE LEAST INTERESTING THING (121)

9. Effective:

  • THE LEAST EFFECTIVE WAY (129)

B1 vocabulary:

amount, common, developed, environment, method, option, options