THE MOST | LEAST + superlative adjective phrase

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.

TED

 

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?

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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.

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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

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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

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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