Let’s explain what a ‘superlative clause’ is with this example:

• It’s the best car that you can buy.

the best is the superlative adjective. that you can buy is the relative clause

We can rewrite this as two sentences:

• It is the best car.  You can buy it.

Here the object it is replaced with the relative pronoun: that.

• It is the best car that you can buy.
• It is the best car that you can buy. (We can also remove that)
• It is the best car you can buy. (We can also remove car if we know what you are talking about)

Here’s a similar expert example:

• That‘s the best that you can do.     (listen to this sentence)

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In the English Grammar Profile, point 95 in the category of CLAUSES & comparatives at B2 is defined as:

a superlative adjective (+ noun) (+ ‘that’) followed by a clause to talk about something unique.

Therefore, it is not essential to follow the superlative with a noun or ‘that’.  This becomes hard to find.  Also, there are also a lot of incorrectly tagged superlatives with Claws7 for this.  A search in iWeb for:

_jjt that_c

1 BEST THAT 16563

2 WORST THAT 5544

This further collocates mostly with more ‘that’ clauses, ‘happen’, and questions with ‘can’:

1 THAT 6286
2 HAPPEN 4155
3 CAN 2399
4 COULD 1771
5 ? 1481
6 WHAT 1187

If we look roughly at the context with ‘happen’:

If we look at this main cluster in COCA, we see that it is not academic either.

3 CLOSEST THAT 586, 4 HIGHEST THAT 417, 5 LARGEST THAT 345, 6 LATEST THAT 331, 8 GREATEST THAT 296, 9 EARLIEST THAT 265, 11 FINEST THAT 245, 12 BIGGEST THAT 234, 17 LOWEST THAT 147, 19 LONGEST THAT 142, 20 SMALLEST THAT 142, 21 OLDEST THAT 115, 23 CHEAPEST THAT 113, 24 STRONGEST THAT 113

25 SLIGHTEST THAT 108

The most common collocates are in the phrase ‘It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that’

MISTAKES: 7 KNOWEST THAT 318, 10 BACKREST THAT 247 13 REINVEST THAT 229, 14 FOREMOST THAT 227, 15 HEADREST THAT 163, 16 SAYEST THAT 149, 18 ARMREST THAT 145, 22 INGEST THAT 113, 26 SEEST THAT 100, 28 SLUGFEST THAT 86, 30 PINTEREST THAT 69

_jjt* _n* _p*_v*

1 BEST THING YOU CAN 11062, 2 WORST THING YOU CAN 3704, 3 BEST THINGS YOU CAN 3488, 4 BEST ADVICE I CAN 3126, 5 BEST WAY I CAN 2179, 6 BEST THING WE CAN 1342, 7 BEST THING I HAVE 1299, 8 BEST THING I CAN 1254, 9 WORST THINGS YOU CAN 1024, 10 BEST WAY YOU CAN 1008, 11 BEST WAY I KNOW 845, 12 BEST THING I COULD 840, 13 BEST WAY WE CAN 789, 14 BEST THING YOU COULD 754, 15 BEST WAYS YOU CAN 737, 16 CLOSEST THING WE HAVE 693, 17 WORST THING YOU COULD 660, 18 BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAVE 595

(B1 point 33 superlative + present perfect) 19 BEST DECISION I HAVE 562

 

 

 

 

20 BEST THINGS I HAVE 514, 21 BEST PRICE I COULD 511, 22 BEST WAY I HAVE 506, 23 BEST ADVICE WE CAN 488, 24 BEST ADVICE I HAVE 481, 25 HARDEST THING I HAVE 462

26 BEST INVESTMENTS YOU CAN 456

27 BEST WAY I COULD 456, 28 BEST THING I DID 451, 29 BEST GIFT YOU CAN 440, 30 BEST INVESTMENT YOU CAN 432, 31 BEST DECISIONS I HAVE 417,

32 BEST DECISION I MADE 407

33 BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU CAN 389, 34 BEST ADVICE I COULD 382, 35 BEST EXAMPLE I CAN 366, 36 LOWEST PRICE WE COULD 364

37 BEST PRODUCT I HAVE 357

 

 

 

 

38 BEST THING WE COULD 338, 39 CLOSEST THING I CAN 335, 40 EASIEST THING YOU CAN 330, 41 BEST WAY WE KNOW 323

42 BIGGEST ISSUE I HAVE 321

 

 

 

 

43 GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN 320, 44 EASIEST THINGS YOU CAN 312, 45 BEST THINGS WE CAN 310, 46 BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU CAN 300, 47 BEST FRIEND WHO IS 299, 48 BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE 299, 49 BIGGEST THING YOU CAN 297

50 BEST QUALITY YOU CAN 295

51 CLOSEST THING I HAVE 294, 52 BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAD 279, 53 BEST PERSON YOU CAN 278, 54 BEST DECISION I COULD 272,
55 BEST WAY THEY CAN 267, 56 BEST THING THEY CAN 263, 57 BEST BOOK I HAVE 262, 58 BEST GIFTS YOU CAN 256, 59 BIGGEST MISTAKE I SEE 256, 60 WORST THING I HAVE 246, 61 CLOSEST THING YOU CAN 243, 62 BEST ADVICE YOU CAN 238
63 GREATEST GIFTS YOU CAN 235

64 BEST INVESTMENT I HAVE 234

65 BEST THINGS I DID 232, 66 CLOSEST THING I COULD 232, 67 BEST DECISION WE MADE 223, 68 WORST THING I COULD 223,
69 BIGGEST PROBLEM WE HAVE 220, 70 BEST JOB YOU CAN 218, 71 BEST DECISIONS I MADE 217, 72 BEST BOOKS I HAVE 215,
73 BEST MONEY I HAVE 212, 74 BEST PERSON I CAN 210, 75 BEST THING WE HAVE 207, 76 WORST THING WE CAN 207, 77 BEST WAYS WE CAN 204

78 BIGGEST CHALLENGES WE FACE 203

79 BEST THING THEY COULD 202, 80 BEST WAY I FOUND 201, 81 BIGGEST MISTAKES I SEE 200, 82 HARDEST THINGS I HAVE 191
83 EASIEST WAY I HAVE 190, 84 LONGEST TIME I THOUGHT 190

85 SMARTEST PEOPLE I KNOW 185

86 WORST THING I CAN 180, 87 NICEST PEOPLE I HAVE 177, 88 BEST CAR I HAVE 174, 89 BEST WAY THEY KNOW 174, 90 BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE 174

91 BEST SERVICE I HAVE 173

92 BEST THING HE COULD 169, 93 BIGGEST THING I HAVE 169

94 BEST PURCHASES I HAVE 167

95 LONGEST TIME I WAS 167, 96 BEST ANALOGY I CAN 162, 97 BEST THING WE DID 160, 98 BEST TOOLS YOU CAN 160, 99 SMARTEST THING YOU CAN 158

100 BEST CHOICES YOU CAN 154

 

_jjt* _nn* that

1 BEST THING THAT 8423, 2 WORST THING THAT 5101, 3 BEST PRACTICES THAT 2613, 4 BIGGEST THING THAT 2357, 5 BEST THINGS THAT 1992, 6 BEST WAY THAT 1320, 7 BIGGEST THINGS THAT 931, 8 WORST THINGS THAT 902, 9 BIGGEST CHALLENGES THAT 745, 10 BEST FRIEND THAT 681, 11 BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT 676, 12 GREATEST THING THAT 642, 13 BIGGEST MISTAKES THAT 600, 14 BEST PRACTICE THAT 541, 15 BIGGEST PROBLEMS THAT 494, 16 BIGGEST MISTAKE THAT 420, 17 BEST WAYS THAT 418, 18 BIGGEST ISSUES THAT 408, 19 BEST ADVICE THAT 394

20 BIGGEST FACTORS THAT 394

21 BIGGEST CHALLENGE THAT 382, 22 BIGGEST REASON THAT 339, 23 BEST PRODUCT THAT 327, 24 BIGGEST REASONS THAT 293,

25 HIGHEST QUALITY THAT 286

A search for past particles to try to find present perfect only found one example, the rest are passive points.

, 26 BEST PRODUCTS THAT 277, 27 CLOSEST THING THAT 277, 28 HIGHEST HONOR THAT 265, 29 BEST FRIENDS THAT 259

30 SLIGHTEST DOUBT THAT 244

31 LATEST SIGN THAT 242, 32 BIGGEST ISSUE THAT 239, 33 BIGGEST FACTOR THAT 237, 34 BEST JOB THAT 236,  35 SMALLEST NUMBER THAT 236

36 LATEST TECHNOLOGY THAT 229

37 BEST INTEREST THAT 215

No examples of present perfect.

38 BEST ONES THAT 213, 39 GREATEST GIFT THAT 203

40 BEST EVIDENCE THAT 201

41 BEST DECISION THAT 200

42 LATEST VERSION THAT 193

43 BEST DECISIONS THAT 183, 44 HARDEST THING THAT 179, 45 FUNNIEST THING THAT 178

46 BEST FEATURES THAT 174

47 EARLIEST DATE THAT 174

48 GREATEST THINGS THAT 169, 49 HIGHEST LEVEL THAT 159, 50 EASIEST WAY THAT 157, 51 BEST GIFT THAT 156

52 BEST PROOF THAT 149

53 BEST PLAYERS THAT 147, 54 BIGGEST CHANGE THAT 145

55 BEST SOLUTION THAT 145

56 BEST PLAYER THAT 144, 57 BEST QUALITY THAT 143, 58 BEST PEOPLE THAT 139, 59 HARDEST THINGS THAT 139, 60 SIMPLEST THING THAT 137, 61 BEST GAMES THAT 136, 62 BIGGEST BEING THAT 136

63 SLIGHTEST HINT THAT 134

64 LATEST TECHNOLOGIES THAT 133

65 BEST OPTION THAT 131

66 SLIGHTEST CHANCE THAT 131,

67 SIMPLEST THINGS THAT 131

68 WILDEST DREAMS THAT 126

69 LOWEST DOSE THAT 126

70 BEST OPTIONS THAT 123

 

 

Point 33 in the category of Nouns at B1 is defined as

a clause with a present perfect or past perfect as a superlative noun phrase complement, to talk about uniqueness.

_jjt* _n* that * _vh* _vvn*

 

iWeb doesn’t allow such a search so we turn to the NOW corpus and selected out appropriate points:

8 GREATEST TEST THAT WE HAVE FACED 17

10 BIGGEST THING THAT I ‘VE LEARNED 15

19 LATEST INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED 9

21 BEST GAME THAT WE ‘VE PLAYED 7

35 SMARTEST GAME THAT WE HAVE PLAYED 6

 

The larger iWeb & Now corpora do not allow for a collocated search of superlatives located to the left of VH + VVN, but the smaller COCA does.  So we get the following superlatives:

We can note the superlative adjectives we are most interested in are either B1 or A2 for our B1 grammar point.  We have already found previously other similar examples for much of this vocabulary, so we will just look up a few examples for new words here.  What we soon discover again is that we get many other structures that do not match point 33.  So the information contained is of relative importance that should be used mindfully.

 

1 BEST 5604
2 BIGGEST 1617
3 WORST 1520
4 GREATEST 897
5 LARGEST 769
6 LATEST 764
7 CLOSEST 493
8 HIGHEST 447
9 OLDEST 320
10 LONGEST 259
11 YOUNGEST 242
12 STRONGEST 203
13 FINEST 197
14 LOWEST 193
15 EARLIEST 178
16 FUNNIEST 149
17 HARDEST 140
18 TOUGHEST 130
19 SMALLEST 107
20 NEWEST 93
21 SMARTEST 90
22 NICEST 88
23 HAPPIEST 87
24 FOREMOST 82
25 FASTEST 81
26 POOREST 76
27 WILDEST 74

28 ELDEST 71

Most examples do not match point 33.

29 DEEPEST 70
30 STRANGEST 70
31 DEAREST 67
32 COOLEST 64
33 WEALTHIEST 60
34 DUMBEST 57
35 BRIGHTEST 56
36 RICHEST 55
37 HOTTEST 54
38 EASIEST 51

39 NEAREST 49

Some examples are good for point 33

40 SLIGHTEST 49
41 HEAVIEST 46
42 STUPIDEST 45
43 CRAZIEST 44
44 WEIRDEST 40
45 CHEAPEST 38
46 PRETTIEST 37
47 SCARIEST 37
48 SWEETEST 37
49 SADDEST 36
50 SIMPLEST 34
51 DARKEST 32
52 WEAKEST 31
53 HARSHEST 29
54 SECOND-LARGEST 29
55 HEALTHIEST 24
56 WARMEST 24
57 LOUDEST 23
58 CLEAREST 22
59 BUSIEST 21
60 FARTHEST 21
61 SHORTEST 21
62 FIERCEST 20
63 TALLEST 20
64 SAFEST 19
65 UGLIEST 19
66 WIDEST 19
67 LIGHTEST 18
68 COLDEST 17
69 FURTHEST 17
70 PROUDEST 17
71 QUIETEST 17
72 SHARPEST 17
73 SILLIEST 17
74 CLEANEST 16
75 KINDEST 16
76 BROADEST 15
77 BOLDEST 14
78 FITTEST 14
79 FULLEST 14
80 NASTIEST 14
81 ANGRIEST 13
82 SICKEST 13
83 STAUNCHEST 13
84 THIRD-LARGEST 13
85 TINIEST 13
86 TRUEST 13
87 WISEST 13
88 CUTEST 12
89 LOVELIEST 12
90 LUCKIEST 12
91 ODDEST 12
92 SMOOTHEST 12
93 BEST-LOOKING 11
94 GRAVEST 11
95 LITTLEST 11
96 QUICKEST 11
97 BRAVEST 10
98 BLOODIEST 10
99 DEADLIEST 9
100 FONDEST 9

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This post is another that shows overlapping points from different CEFR levels.  Both points require a superlative to be followed by a clause.  What is strange is that the B2 clause can be anything.  Whereas the B1 point must be present or past perfect.  This is strange because it is much harder to find something that is more specific, and usually more specific is more complex.

Finally, note that if the bare infinitive is removed after a modal verb in the clause, this structure is C1.