question regarding "the"

hayoung0803 wrote:I'm not a native speaker of English, and am a bit confused as to why it's okay to say
"whom we like most" rather than "whom we like the most"

The original question was by Manhattan SC book, where it asks to correct "The acquaintances who we like most are those that flatter us best"

I got WHOM and WHO part right, but am confused by "most" vs "the most" and "best" and "the best". Can someone help me clarify this subject?

The correct sentence should be: The acquaintances whom we like most are those who flatter us best.

----

''The'' is generally used to specify someone or something very specific

In this sentence which you have posted i will try breaking it down for you so its much more clearer
The acquaintances - The is used here to specify that there are many acquaintances and more specifically the acquaintances you have
whom we like most are those who flatter us best - now the use of the best would be wrong here because we are using those which means that there are few acquaintances out of many whom you like best (not a specific person but few specific persons)

if the sentence would have read - The acquaintance whom we like the most is the one who flatter us the best (Singular - One out of many- that specific person) or
The acquaintance whom I like the most is the one who flatter me the best (Singular - One out of many - that specific person)

I hope it helps.

Thanks