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Adjective Word Order

The document discusses the order and types of adjectives used to describe nouns in English sentences. It explains that adjectives generally follow a specific order: opinion, size, shape, age, color, origin, material, and purpose. This order is a guideline, not a fixed rule, but is the most commonly used structure. The document provides examples of adjective usage and ordering when used before nouns, such as "an ugly old hat" and "some comfortable black sleeping bags". It also defines different classes of adjectives like opinion, size, color, and material.

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26 views4 pages

Adjective Word Order

The document discusses the order and types of adjectives used to describe nouns in English sentences. It explains that adjectives generally follow a specific order: opinion, size, shape, age, color, origin, material, and purpose. This order is a guideline, not a fixed rule, but is the most commonly used structure. The document provides examples of adjective usage and ordering when used before nouns, such as "an ugly old hat" and "some comfortable black sleeping bags". It also defines different classes of adjectives like opinion, size, color, and material.

Uploaded by

efraimcalipe007
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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An adjective is a word that describes something (a noun) or someone (a person).

Adjectives sometimes appear after the verb To Be

 He is short.
 She is tall.

Adjectives sometimes appear before a noun.

 Red car
 Old hat

BUT… Sometimes you want to use more than one adjective to describe something (or
someone).

What happens if a hat is both old AND ugly?

Do we say… an ugly old hat OR an old ugly hat?

An ugly old hat is correct because a certain order for adjectives is expected
(Note, you may hear the other version old ugly hat, though it doesn’t sound natural)

So what is the correct order of adjectives when we put them before a noun or the thing
they describe?

Here is a chart that shows the main word order for adjectives in English:
IMPORTANT: The order of adjectives before a noun IS NOT FIXED.

This chart is only offered as a guide and is the order that is preferred.

You may see or hear slight variations of the order of adjectives in real life though what
appears in the chart above is order that is expected the most.

Let’s look at each type of adjective in more detail (with examples)…


Types of Adjectives

Before the adjectives you will normally have the Determiner.

Determiner: The determiner tells us if the noun is singular or plural, definite or


indefinite

 a, an, the, my, your, four, those, some etc

And then we have the adjectives that refer to…

Opinion: Explains what we think about something. This is usually our opinion, attitude
or observations. These adjectives almost always come before all other adjectives.

 beautiful, boring, stupid, delicious, useful, lovely, comfortable

Size: Tells us how big or small something is.

 big, small, tall, huge, tiny

Shape / Weight / Length: Tells about the shape of something or how long or short it is.
It can also refer to the weight of someone or something.

 round, square, circular, skinny, fat, heavy, straight, long, short,

Condition: Tells us the general condition or state of something

 broken, cold, hot, wet, hungry, rich, easy, difficult, dirty

Age: Tells us how old someone or something is.

 old, young, new, ancient, antique

Colour: The colour or approximate colour of something.

 green, white, blue, reddish, purple

Pattern: The pattern or design of something.

 striped, spotted, checked, flowery

Origin: Tells us where something is from.

 American, British, Italian, eastern, Australian, Chilean

Material: What is the thing made of or constructed of?

 gold, wooden, silk, paper, synthetic, cotton, woollen

Purpose/Qualifier/Use: What is it for? These adjectives often end in –ing.


 sleeping (bag), gardening (gloves), shopping (bag), wedding (dress)

If you look at the examples above, you can ask… what are the gloves used for?
(gardening) What is the bag used for? (shopping)

And after these we adjectives we have the…

Noun: The person or thing that is being described

Examples of the order of adjectives before a noun

Something to have in mind is that it does not sound natural using three or more
adjectives in the same sentence and it is very rare to hear four adjectives together before
a noun.

 A big fat dog.


 An interesting old Indian rug.
 A striped silk shirt
 Some comfortable black sleeping bags
 Four small round wooden tables
 Those funny little old men

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