1. This book was most helpful for my homework.
2. This book was the most helpful for my homework.
(Which one is grammatical? Do we have to use 'the' or not in this case?)
Q: How do we pronounce 'helpful'?
(It's a little difficult to pronounce...Thank you for your help.)
English - Writeacher, Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 4:05pm
#1 means this: This book was very helpful for my homework.
#2 means this: Of all the books, this book was the most helpful ...
Both are grammatical, but they are not identical in meaning.
Yes, "helpful" is difficult ... it's because of the l and p and f sounds all together between the two vowels.
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See the little icon for a speaker, right next to help¡¤ful just above the definition? Click on it, and you'll hear a man pronounce the word.
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Thank you for your help.
What about the followings?
1. She is most attractive.
2. Summer is hottest.
3. She is shiest
(Are they all grammatical? Does 'most' in #1 mean 'very'? What about the following expressions? Are the folowing expressions grammatical? Which ones are more commonly used?)
4. She is the most attractive.
5. Summer is the hottest.
6. She is the shiest.
The main problem with these sentences is that they end with adjectives that don't modify anything.
Most attractive what?
Hottest what?
Shiest what?
Both sentences #1 and #2 are grammatical, but they have slightly different meanings.
In #1, "This book was most helpful for my homework," the word "most" is used as an adverb to modify the adjective "helpful." It means that the book was very helpful for the homework.
In #2, "This book was the most helpful for my homework," the word "most" is used as a superlative adjective to compare the book with other books. It means that out of all the books, this book was the most helpful for the homework.
Regarding the pronunciation of "helpful," it can be a bit tricky. To pronounce it correctly, start with the "h" sound, followed by the "eh" as in "bed" sound. Then, the "l" sound, and finally the "pful" sound, which can be pronounced as "full." So, putting it all together, it sounds like "HEHLP-ful."
Now, let's discuss your additional examples:
1. "She is most attractive." This sentence is grammatical and means that she is very attractive.
2. "Summer is hottest." This sentence is not grammatical. To make it grammatical, you need to add "the" before "hottest." So, it becomes "Summer is the hottest." This means that compared to other seasons or periods of time, summer is the hottest.
3. "She is shiest." This sentence is grammatical, but it is not commonly used. The correct form would be "She is the shyest." This means that compared to others, she is the shyest person.
To summarize, using "most" before an adjective is typically used to mean "very." However, when comparing with others, it is more common to use "the" before the superlative form of the adjective.