Adjetivos comparativos e superlativos

Em inglês os adjetivos podem ser classificados em:

1. Gradáveis:

1.1. Nessa classe são incluídos a maioria dos adjetivos. São aqueles adjetivos que permitem gradações, ou seja, permitem seu uso com modificadores ou intensificadores (advérbios ou em alguns casos verbos) enfraquecendo, limitando ou intensificando o sentido ou significado do adjetivo. Alguns exemplos de intensificadores ou modificadores são:
very, too, much, really, extremely, enough.
Exemplos:
Space is big , but not big enough.

1.2. Além disso os adjetivos dessa classe podem formar comparativos e superlativos. Exemplos:
big – bigger – biggest;
nice – nicer – nicest;

2. Não Gradáveis:

2.1. Representam uma pequena classe de adjetivos. São adjetivos que não permitem o uso com modificadores ou intensificadores e

2.2. Também não podem formar comparativos e superlativos. Exemplos desses adjetivos:
medical, daily, perfect, pregnant, married, dead, unique, etc
A “robot” which is being dubbed “the perfect woman” goes on sale on Wednesday.
The Medical Dictionary is a searchable dictionary of definitions from medicine, science and technology.
Em alguns casos podemos encontrar esses adjetivos com modificadores quando queremos ênfase ou em situações de humor.
Exemplos:
He is a little bit dead.
In case you weren’t sure, Salma Hayek is really, really pregnant.

1. Formação dos Adjetivos Comparativos e Superlativos

1.1. Adjetivos Curtos (Shorter adjectives)

1.1.1. Para formar os comparativos e superlativos dos adjetivos de uma sílaba adicionamos -er para a forma comparativa e -est para a forma superlativa.Vamos a alguns exemplos:

Adjective One Syllable	Comparative -ER	Superlative -EST
cold	colder	coldest
old	older	oldest
fast	faster	fastest
small	smaller	smallest
weak	weaker	weakest

1.1.2. Existem adjetivos de uma sílaba que terminam com uma única consoante após uma única vogal. Para formar os comparativos e superlativos dobramos a consoante final. Exemplos:

Adjective One Syllable	Comparative -ER	Superlative -EST
sad	sadder	saddest
thin	thinner	thinnest
wet	wetter	wettest
big	bigger	biggest
flat	flatter	flattest

1.1.3. Quando temos adjetivos de uma ou mais de duas sílabas que terminam com a vogal -y precedida por uma consoante formaremos os comparativos e superlativos trocando a consoante final y por i. Exemplos:

Adjective More Syllable	Comparative -ER	Superlative -EST
spicy	spicier	spiciest
busy	busier	busiest
icy	icier	iciest
slippery	slipperier	slipperiest
dirty	dirtier	dirtiest

1.1.4. É importante observar que alguns dos adjetivos mais comuns em inglês tem formas irregulares de comparativos e superlativos.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
bad	worse	worst
good	better	best
far	further farther	furthest farthest
old	older elder	oldest eldest

• bad – worse – worst:
  • Yesterday was his worst day of year.
  • It’s the worst summer I can remember.
  • This was my first and worse experience riding a bus.
  • The weather got worse during the day.
• good – better – best:
  • In this situation, he had a better chance of winning in 18 holes.
  • It is just that the better cheese is pricy.
  • The best player this season would be the one who added the most points.
  • Bali wins best exotic destination award from English magazine
• far – further* – furthest ou menos comum far – farther* – farthest:
  • The supermarket is farther down the road than I thought
  • The shop is closed until further notice.
  • He had traveled to the farthest frontier.
  • Bali wins furthest exotic destination award from English magazine
• old – older – oldest são as formas regulares, mas elder – eldest também são usados para comparar idades de uma pessoa, especialmente de membros de uma família. Eles não podem ser usados com than. E como adjetivos só podem ser usados antes do substantivo (noun):
  • This website for older adults was developed by the National Institute on Aging.
  • The following tables list only the oldest verified people in ordinal rank, such as oldest person or oldest man.
  • She is the elder of my two sisters.
  • Jack is the eldest of three.

*O uso de farther e further frequentemente causa confusão sobre quando se deve usar um ou outro. Uma regra recente estabelece que farther deve ser usado para distâncias físicas e further para avanço ou progresso não físico ou metafórico. Em muitos casos, porém é difícil estabelecer a diferença.

1.2. Adjetivos de duas ou mais sílabas (Longer adjectives)

1.2.1. Para formar os comparativos e superlativos dos adjetivos de duas ou mais sílabas (longer adjectives) adicionamos os quantificadores more e less para as formas comparativas e most e least para os adjetivos superlativos. Vamos a alguns exemplos:

Adjective More Syllables	Comparative MORE or LESS	Superlative MOST or LEAST
delicious	more delicious less delicious	most delicious least delicious
arrogant	more arrogant less arrogant	most arrogant least arrogant
tense	more tense less tense	most tense least tense
cooperative	more cooperative less cooperative	most cooperative least cooperative
perfect	more perfect less perfect	most perfect least perfect

Less

Less pode ser usado com adjetivos de uma sílaba, mas More, Most e Least normalmente não são usados dessa forma.

• If it makes you less sad, I’ll tell you how I feel.
• Becoming less nice has made me a nicer person.

More

More pode algumas poucas vezes ser usado com adjetivos de uma sílaba (shorter adjectives).

• Our government will continue to remove barriers and implement new ideas as we move vigourously to seek and encourage more clean, green energy in Ontario.”
• It is going to be a little more wet than white, said Matthew Belk, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

1.2.2. Adjetivos de duas sílabas com -er e -est ou more-less e most-least

Alguns adjetivos de duas sílabas podem formar comparativos e superlativos tanto com -er e -est como com more-less emost-least.

Vamos ver alguns exemplos:

Adjective Two Syllables	Comparative ER or MORE or LESS	Superlative EST or MOST or LEAST
quiet	quieter more quiet less quiet	quietest most quiet least quiet
happy	happier more happy less happy	happiest most happy least happy
pleasant	pleasanter more pleasant less pleasant	pleasantest most pleasant least pleasant
simple	simpler more simple less simple	simplest most simple least simple
narrow	narrower more narrow less narrow	narrowest most narrow least narrow

Mais alguns exemplos:

• cleverer – more clever – less clever
  clevest – most clever – least clever
  • Blonde women make men less clever.
  • New research has suggested that having a big brain does not necessarily make you more clever.
  • My cat is cleverer than my dog.
  • That is true, there is more messing around, but sometimes mixed ability classes, do actually help the clevestand the not so clevest pupils.
• handsomerer – more handsome – less handsome
  handsomest – most handsome – least handsome
  • You’re handsomer than he is, Daddy!
  • In my daughter’s eyes, there never seems to be anyone stronger, sweeter, or more handsome than her Daddy.
  • Presenting to you, the five most handsome men in the world.
  • The surgeons were less handsome than the actors.

Os antônimos destes adjetivos formados com prefixos -un (unhappy, unpleasant, unquiet, uncommon, etc.) também podem formar comparativos com -er ou more-less e superlativos com -est ou most-least.

Exemplos:

• unhappy
  • unhappier – more unhappy – less unhappy
  • unhappiest – most unhappy – least unhappy
  • Indonesian employees are the least unhappy in the world.
  • There cannot live an unhappier creature than an ill-natured old man, who is neither capable of receiving pleasures, nor sensible of conferring them on others.
  • The study found that African American Muslims more unhappy with America.
  • Britain’s children are the unhappiest in the West, according to a Unicef study of 21 industrialised countries.
  • We’re most unhappy in mid-life because, it turns out, we focus on the wrong things.
  • My life has been less unhappy lately, believe it or not.

1.2.3. Devem sempre formar comparativos com more – less e superlativos com most – least:

• Os outros adjetivos de duas sílabas não citados no ítem anterior (item 2.2). Exemplos:
  • comparativo: careful – more careful – less careful
  • superlativo: careful – most careful – least careful
  • Are women drivers more careful than men?
  • Somehow we’ve managed to become the most careful people in the world.

• Adjetivos de mais de duas sílabas. Exemplos:
  • comparativo: dangerous – more dangerous – less dangerous
  • superlativo: dangerous – most dangerous – least dangerous
  • Britain is now more dangerous than the Balkans.
  • The hippo is considered by many experts, explorers and Africans to be the most dangerous animal in Africa.

• A maioria dos adjetivos compostos de mais de duas sílabas. Exemplos:
  • comparativo: kindhearted – more kindhearted – less kindhearted
  • superlativo: kindhearted – most kindhearted – least kindhearted
  • I don’t believe that people today are less kindhearted than in earlier times.
  • She is, indeed, one of the most kindhearted and thankful persons imaginable.

• Adjetivos particípio passado. Exemplos:
  • comparativo: depressed – more depressed -less depressed
  • superlativo: depressed – most depressed – least depressed
  • Depressed people who focused externally became less depressed than depressed people who focused on themselves.
  • South Dakota is the least depressed state in the nation, followed by Hawaii and New Jersey, according a recent report released by Mental Health America. Utah, West Virginia and Kentucky were found to be the most depressed states.

• Adjetivos particípio presente. Exemplos:
  • comparativo: depressing – more depressing – less depressing
  • superlativo: depressing – most depressing – least depressing
  • Since Bergman had retired, it’s a little less depressing than when Altman died.
  • The study point out the most depressing jobs but also the least depressing ones, which fell into the category for architects, engineers, and surveyors.

1.2.4. Adjetivos compostos formados com good, well e bad formam comparativos e superlativos da forma como segue:

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good-tempered	better tempered or more good-tempered	best tempered
well-dressed	better-dressed or more well-dressed	best-dressed
bad-looking	worse-looking or more bad-looking	worst-looking

Vejamos alguns exemplos:

• good-tempered:
  • It has been found out that women are a little better tempered than men.
  • You may be feline, you are rather good-tempered and anyway you appear to be much more good-temperedthan the average feline – still like being praised?
  • If the best tempered animals are not chosen, you will likely have temperament issues.

• well-dressed:
  • I must admit, they were better dressed than the women in those days.
  • My kids are more well-dressed than most and are more well-mannered than many kids their age.
  • Mr. Moore told The Hill Times that he will “take it as a compliment,” but he seemed more interested in whether he made the best-dressed or worst-dressed categories.

• bad-looking:
  • Are you better or worse looking than your avatar?
  • Every moment he seemed to get more and more bad looking than he already was.
  • This is the worst looking hat I ever saw.