The superlative of adjectives and adverbs without "the"

[mafto]

Please, tell me when we shouldn't use 'the' with the superlative form of adjectives and adverbs.
I haven't found anything satisfactory on the issue yet except for the rule that when we compare something with the thing itself, we don't use 'the'.
NY is the most beautiful city. vs. NY is most beautiful in Winter.
Is this true? (I mean dropping of 'the' in the second sentence, not the meaning of the sentences )
Any other rules?
Thank you very much :)
Have a nice evening.

[emsr2d2]

Please, tell me when we shouldn't use 'the' with the superlative form of adjectives and adverbs.
I haven't found anything satisfactory on the issue yet except for the rule that when we compare something with the thing itself, we don't use 'the'.
NY is the most beautiful city. vs. NY is most beautiful in Winter.
Is this true? (I mean dropping of 'the' in the second sentence, not the meaning of the sentences )
Any other rules?
Thank you very much :)
Have a nice evening.

Your two examples are both correct.

New York is the most beautiful city = There is unspoken information here (in fact I would go so far as to say that this is not a naturally complete sentence). NY is the most beautiful city [in America]/[in the world]. Here, "most beautiful" describes both "New York" and "the city".

New York is most beautiful in winter = Here "most beautiful" describes "New York" at a particular time of year. It is effectively "New York is at its most beautiful in winter".

If you imagine that the two statements are the answers to questions:

1) What is the most beautiful city [in the world]?
2) When is New York at its most beautiful?

I'm sure you would know that the article is to be used/omitted respectively in those two questions. The statements follow the same pattern.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=mafto;827667]


NY is most beautiful in Winter.


NOT A TEACHER


I think that I read somewhere that the word "most" in that kind of sentence

= very.

[emsr2d2]

[QUOTE=TheParser;827730]

NY is most beautiful in Winter.


NOT A TEACHER


I think that I read somewhere that the word "most" in that kind of sentence

= very.

It can be. In fact, I had not thought of that possibility. The sentence actually has 2 possible meanings:

NY is most beautiful in winter = NY is very beautiful in winter
NY is most beautiful in winter = NY is beautiful in spring, summer and autumn but of the three seasons, it is most beautiful in winter.