number to be left or not?

Anonymous about FacebookThe most number of people that have talked about you is...

"The most people that..."
"The greatest number of people..."
Not "The most number of people..."

Blue Jay"The most people that...""The greatest number of people..."Not "The most number of people..."

"Not "The most number of people..."

What's the most number of people you've read a book with? [From The Guardian.]

A boy hugs a tree trunk as he prepares to take part in an attempt to create a

AnonymousWhat's the most number of people you've read a book with?..etc

The great thing about search engines, is that one can find examples of almost anything you want. The fact that one can find examples of 'the most number' in newspapers does not mean that it is generally considered good style.

It is true that there are nine citations for 'the most

fivejedjon AnonymousWhat's the most number of people you've read a book with?..etcThe great thing about search engines, is that one can find examples of almost anything you want. The fact that one can find examples of 'the most number' in newspapers does not mean that it is generally considered good style.It is true that there are nine citations for 'the most number of [p

Anonymous Does it mean that it's ungrammatical and unidiomatic?

Interesting question. We can certainly show that it is far less common than the others.

As it is definitely not acceptable to say 'many number of' or 'more number of', it's hardly logical to accept 'the most number of'. But, we can't use logic to justify grammatical usage in Englis

fivejedjonIt is true that there are nine citations for 'the most number of [plural noun]' in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, but there are 120 for 'the highest number of [plural noun]', 128 for 'the greatest number of [plural noun]' and 192 for 'the largest number of [plural noun]'.

A number can be highest, greatest or largest. A num

To me it seemed so obviously wrong that it did not occur to me to check to see if it was accepted anywhere as a standard usage. I was astonished to learn that "most number" has been used in reputable publications. It may in time become a common and widely accepted usage, but for now, as fivejedjon observed, it would be safer to avoid it.