Using 'Most': How and When to Use in English
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Using 'Most'
Main uses of most:
• As an adverb to form the superlative:
• As an adverb to form the superlative:
Philip is the most talented salesman on the whole sales team. Philip has the largest amount of talent of anyone on the sales team.
Who is the most qualified? Who is the best qualified person? Who has the largest number of qualifications?
• To indicate 'the greatest degree or extent'. To express this meaning, 'most' and 'the most' are often interchangeable.
Which wine did you like (the) most? Which wine did you like best? Which was your favorite wine?
This is exactly what I dislike (the) most. This is exactly the thing which I like least.
• To indicate 'the majority', immediately followed by a noun or of:
Most people here wear jeans. The majority of people here wear blue jeans.
Most of our employees are American, but not all. The majority (more than 50%) of our employees are American, but not all.
Horatio spends most of his time experimenting with new blends. Horatio spends the majority of his time experimenting with new blends.
Note: Mostly is synonymous with "mainly", "generally", "normally", or "usually":
The employees are mostly American. The employees are mainly, predominantly American.
Bruno is mostly out of the office this week. Bruno is out of the office for the larger part this week.
Exercise 1
Horatio Oléré is one of the famous perfumers in the world.
Horatio Oléré is one of the most famous perfumers in the world.
most: 'Most' is the best choice here. We can use 'most' to express a superlative statement. This sentence expresses that Horatio is one of the more well-known perfumers in the world.
much: 'Much' does not fit here. 'Much' is used to describe uncountable nouns. We would not use it to precede the adjective 'famous'.
Exercise 2
of the time I screen my phone calls, because there are people I don't want to talk to.
Most 1 of the time I screen my phone calls, because there are many 2 people I don't want to talk to.
1 Most: 'Most' is used to describe uncountable nouns, such as 'time'. The expression 'most of the time' describes the majority of someone's time. Example: Most of the time I go to sleep early. 'To screen a phone call' is to answer only the phone calls which interest you, which can be done by checking the phone number of the caller for example.
1 Many: 'Many' never precedes an uncountable noun such as 'time'. However, we could say 'I've seen this film many times already'.
1 more: 'More' rarely precedes entire clauses like this one. 'More' generally precedes objects or subjects directly.
2 many: 'Many' describes the countable noun 'people'. 'People' is a plural noun which is always preceded by 'many' when describing a large number of people.
2 most: 'Most' is grammatically incorrect in this construction. In another context, we could say: Most people voted for Michael in the last election.
2 much: 'Much' cannot precede a quantifiable noun such as 'people'.
Exercise 3
Luna: Bob, do you want to hear about day I ever had?
Bob: You tell bizarre stories than people I know.
Bob: You tell bizarre stories than people I know.
Luna: Bob, do you want to hear about the most incredible 1 day I ever had?
Bob: You tell more 2 bizarre stories than most 3 people I know.
Bob: You tell more 2 bizarre stories than most 3 people I know.
1 the most incredible: 'The most incredible' is the superlative form of the adjective 'incredible'. For long adjectives such as 'incredible', the superlative form is created by adding the prefix 'the most' before the adjective. Luna is describing an amazing day.
1 the more incredible: 'The more incredible' is the comparative form of the adjective 'incredible'. Luna is not making a comparative statement here, but rather a superlative one.
1 more incredible: 'More incredible' does not work here because it is a comparative form. We must use the superlative form of the adjective 'incredible'.
1 most incredible: To create the superlative form of the adjective 'incredible', we must add the article 'the' to 'most incredible'.
2 more: The construction 'more...than' is a comparative one, which allows Bob to compare Luna's stories to the stories that most other people tell him. This type of construction is used with long (polysyllabic) adjectives (like 'bizarre') and is formed with 'More + Adjective + Than + Subject. Example: Horatio is more adventurous than Bob.
2 most: When comparing two (or more) things, we cannot use the superlative form. Also, we would need 'the' to precede 'most' in this particular construction to create the superlative form.
2 many: The term 'than' is used to make a comparison, not to describe the amount of bizarre stories which Luna tells.
3 most: 'Most' describes the countable noun 'people'. 'Most people' also completes the comparative construction which Bob is making between the stories Luna tells and those that other people tell him.
3 the most: 'The most' cannot be used here because Bob is not making a superlative statement, but a comparative one.
3 much: The noun 'people' is a quantifiable or countable noun, which cannot be described by 'much' which is only used for uncountable nouns.
Exercise 4
In terms of total sales, Kalvin Krime is successful cosmetics company in the United States. However, Delavigne is quickly becoming and more competitive. Of course, in terms of quality, Delavigne has always been respected company in the industry.
In terms of total sales, Kalvin Krime is the most 1 successful cosmetics company in the United States. However, Delavigne is quickly becoming more 2 and more competitive. Of course, in terms of quality, Delavigne has always been the most 3 respected company in the industry.
1 the most: The superlative form of 'successful' is 'the most successful'.
1 most: The word 'most' is the superlative form of the word 'more'. The article 'the' is required in this construction to create the superlative form.
1 many: 'Many' is used to describe an amount or quantities, we would not use it to describe the singular noun 'company'.
2 more: 'More' is the best choice here. 'More and more' is an idiom which expresses progression, or an increase.
2 most: We cannot use 'most' here. 'Most and more' does not make sense. The correct expression is 'more and more'.
3 the most: 'The most respected' is the best choice here because it correctly expresses the superlative form of 'respected'.
3 most: We must precede 'most' with the article 'the' in order to correctly express the superlative form of the adjective 'respected'.
Exercise 5
Delavigne products are organic, and safe for the environment. On the other hand, Kalvin Krime products are made from addictive chemicals.
Most 1 Delavigne products are organic, and safe for the environment. On the other hand, many 2 Kalvin Krime products are made from addictive chemicals.
1 Most: 'Most' is the correct choice here. It describes that the 'better part' or 'a considerable amount' of Delavigne products are organic and environmentally safe.
1 The most: 'The most' cannot be followed by a noun such as products. Also, no article is needed in this case. We use 'the' in front of 'most' when we are expressing a superlative, but not in constructions such as this.
2 many: 'Many' is the best choice here because it correctly describes the countable noun 'products'.
2 the most: We cannot use 'the most' here because the article 'the' makes the sentence grammatically incorrect. We could say 'Most Kalvin Krime perfumes are addictive', however.
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