Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

SUPERLATIVES 

468

General

468a

Superlative adjectives are used to compare an entity with a whole group of which

they are assumed to be a part:

Nepal has the world’s 

highest mountain.

Japan is the second 

richest country in the world.

In the 1980s Jack Nicklaus was the 

best golfer in the world.

a bit 

a little

exactly

just

quite 

(meaning

‘somewhat’)

somewhat

very

768 | Comparison

Cambridge Grammar of English

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When a superlative is used with the to refer to something or somebody in a group,

a prepositional phrase is often used to identify the group:

Henry was 

the tallest

of them all

.

She was 

the fastest worker

on the staff

.

✪

Note the use of in, not of, when places are mentioned:

Ben Nevis is the 

highest mountain in Scotland.

(Ben Nevis is the highest mountain of Scotland.)

Superlative forms also occur in a range of common prepositional phrases:

She’s not been 

in the best of health this winter.

The storm was 

at its worst at 2 a.m.

Valencia were not 

at their best in the first half but things improved later in the

game.

Note the non-superlative use of most, meaning ‘very’/‘extremely’, which may

occur with the indefinite article a:

That really is 

most kind of you.

(That really is kindest of you.)

The group has completed the exercise 

most imaginatively and above all most

accurately.

It was 

a most interesting lecture.