Superlative adjectives

We use superlative adjectives to say which person, place or thing has the most of a quality — comparing three or more items in a group. For short adjectives (one syllable), we add -est and put the before it: tall → the tallest, old → the oldest. If the adjective ends in a consonant + vowel + consonant, we double the final consonant: big → the biggest, hot → the hottest. For adjectives ending in -y, change y to i and add -est: happy → the happiest. For longer adjectives (two or more syllables), we use the most + adjective: beautiful → the most beautiful, expensive → the most expensive. Two important irregular forms must be memorised: good → the best, bad → the worst. We always use a superlative when comparing three or more things, and we often follow it with in (the tallest student in the class) or of (the worst day of the week). Never use more and -est together. For example: 'Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, and the Sahara is the most dangerous desert to cross.'