[Grammar] Gold is MOST/THE MOST precious of all metals.

[Sahil Dhankhar]

This is not my homework.
In my opinion, predicative use of superlative degrees of adjectives allows us to drop the "the" article. If this is true, then the correct sentence should be -

Gold is most precious of all metals. (Am I right?)

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Would the need of "the" will be the same if I write the same sentence as below:

(Out) Of all the metals, gold is most precious.

 

[Rover_KE]

Actually, gold is the third most precious metal, after rhodium and platinum. [link]

not a metallurgist

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I read in some book that with superlative degrees of adjectives in predicate form, we eliminate "the". Example- Apples in this store are cheapest(not the cheapest).
So, is the last sentence correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

I would use "The apples in this store are the cheapest ...". As you can see from my ellipsis, something should follow that, such as "in town" or "in the area".

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

So, based on the same approach, is only the first set of sentences correct?

1-Which book do you like the most?
The book I like the most is this one.
2-Which book do you like most?
The book I like most is this one.