Most

"Everybody abuses this word," says Mr. Gould in his "Good English"; and then, in another paragraph, he adds: "If a man would cro out most wherever he can find it in any book in the English language, he would in al most every instance improve the style of the book." That this statement may appear within bounds, he gives many examples from good authors, some of which are the following: "a most profound silence"; "a most just idea"; "a most complete orator"; "this was most extraordinary"; "an object of most perfect esteem"; "a most extensive erudition"; "he gave it most liberally away"; "it is, most a uredly, not because I value his services least"; "would most seriously affect us"; "that such a system must most widely and most powerfully," etc.; "it is most effectually nailed to the counter"; "it is most undeniable that," etc. This word is much, and very erroneously, used for almost . "He comes here most every day." The user of such a sentence as this means to say that he comes nearly every day, but he really says , if he says anything, that he comes more every day than he does every night. In such sentences almost , and not most , is the word to use.