VOA · Ask a Teacher
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01Hello!
02This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Paola in Bolivia about the usage of the words most and almost.
03Dear Teacher, I am having some confusion about the words most and almost.
04Sometimes they seem like the same to me and I wish to know how they can be different.
05Thank you, Paola.
06I'm happy to answer this question, Paola.
07The word almost is an adverb.
08The word most can be an adjective, adverb, or quantifier.
09A quantifier is a word that describes how much of something there is.
10The words more, some, and all are other examples of quantifiers.
11As a quantifier, most simply means a majority of a group or the largest part of something.
12However, the phrase almost all of means nearly all of something, such as 90% or more.
13Some English learners have difficulty knowing when to use the preposition of with the words most or almost.
14We cannot put the preposition of directly after the adverb almost.
15Instead, we must use the two words all of after almost to describe a noun, as in this example.
16Almost all of the children who got sick felt better within 48 hours.
17When we use the word most as an adjective, we can simply put a noun directly after it when we are describing something in general, as in this example.
18Most children enjoy playing games.
19Most of the children in his class enjoy playing games.
20Most of his friends live in the city.
21The adverb almost means very nearly or very close.
22For example, if you have a job to do that takes an hour to finish, and you have already worked 55 minutes, you can say, I am almost finished.
23As an adverb, the word most can describe another adjective, as in this example.
24That was the most beautiful sunset I have seen in a long time.
25We sometimes use most without the word the as an adverb after any form of the verb be.
26The thing I'm most worried about is her health.
27Note, however, that we also often use the word the before most.
28The thing I'm the most worried about is her health.
29For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
30We'd like to hear from you.
31Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com.
32And please include where you are from in your email, too.
33And that's Ask a Teacher.
34I'm Andrew Smith.
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