Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
New York is _____ famous city in America.
A) The more
B) The most
C) More
D) Most

Answer 1

Hint: The words given in the options are all adverbs. Moreover, these are specific adverbs that are used to convert an adjective from its positive degree to either its comparative degree or its superlative degree. An example of an adjective in different degrees is; small (positive), smaller (comparative) and smallest (superlative).

Complete answer:
In the given sentence, we have a proper noun ‘New York’ which is our subject. The verb is ‘is’. We also have a preposition ‘in’ and a prepositional object ‘America’. The last thing we have is the adjective, famous. The blank is provided right before the adjective. Hence, we can use a word that modifies or describes this adjective. Such a word would be an ‘adverb’. The concept that we are going to use in this question is of “degrees of comparison” in adjectives.

Let us look at the following options and see which adverb is correct.
Option A) The more – The word more is used to change an adjective ‘famous’ into the comparative degree. It is used when we are making a comparison between two or more nouns. “New York is the more famous city in America. There is no comparison in this statement. Therefore, this option is wrong.
Option B) The most – The word ‘most’ is used to change the adjective i.e. ‘famous’ into its superlative degree. “New York is the most famous city in America.” Therefore, it can be used here correctly as an adverb to describe the adjective ‘famous’. This option is correct.
Option C) More – Again, we have the word ‘more’ which is used to generate a comparative degree. “New York is a more famous city in America”. As we can see, there is no comparison being made in the given statement. Therefore, this option is incorrect for the blank.
Option D) Most – The option is similar to option (B) as it also has the word ‘most’. It is used for generating the superlative degree and can be used correctly. “New York is the most famous city in America.” But it is mandatory that we use the article ‘the’ before a superlative degree. This is because we are now referring to a specific kind of noun. This option does not have ‘the’. Therefore, this option is wrong.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (B) New York is the most famous city in America.


Note:
- Most of the adjectives can be converted to comparative and superlative forms by just adding -er and -est at the end. For e.g. easy-easier-easiest, happy-happier-happiest, pretty-prettier-prettiest.
- In some cases, the comparative forms are new words altogether. For e.g. good-better-best, bad-worse-worst, some-more-most, little-less-least.
- There are other words that use the adverb more and more to generate the comparative and superlative forms. For e.g. famous, beautiful, nervous, anxious. These words can also be preceded by the adverbs “less” and “least”.