Most
people don’t know why adjectives in English have the placement pattern they
do.
If you are interested in linguistics, you might be able to find the
reason.
But
in speaking English and writing English, the reason doesn’t really
matter.
Just learn the pattern and practice until it becomes a habit.
It isn’t easy, because the order may seem to have no logical basis, but
it is the way of English, and in order to become fluent in English, this is what
you must learn.
Below is the order in which adjectives are used in a sentence. Some
resources list: size,
age, then shape. Another change would be: material,
then
origin. I said it wasn’t easy.
1.
Determiners:
a.
articles (a, an, the):
a cow; the house, an
orange.
b.
possessives (my, your, his, hers, our, their):
my hat, his
radio, their
motorboat.
c. demonstratives (this, that, those, these):
this
minute, that
doughnut, those
books.
d.
quantifiers (some, any, few, many, all, etc.):
some
friends, any
hotel, few
apples.
e. numbers (one, two, three, etc.): one shoe, four streets, twenty pearls.
2. Opinion/fact:
a. Opinion is what you think about something. Fact is what is definitely true about something:
A beautiful sunset (opinion).
A five-story building (fact)
3. Size
and Shape:
a. Adjectives that are subject to objective measure:
a skinny
man, the round table, a big
cookie.
4.
Age:
a.
Words that show age:
young
man, new shirt, old car.
5.
5.
Color:
a.
Adjectives that show color:
pink rose, pale face, black hat. NOTE:
when using two colors use and—green and orange
curtains, blue and purple shirt.
6. Origin:
a.
Words that describe the source of a noun:
American
movies, Greek
food, French
fashions
7. Material:
a. Words that describe what something is made of: plastic fork, gold ring, silver bracelet
8. Qualifier:
a. A final limiter often considered part of the noun: table leg, easy chair, blue jeans.
NOTE: We usually use no more than three adjectives preceding a noun. You may see more than three occasionally, but it is usually done for literary effect or emphasis, and not common usage! (P.S. articles, even though they are also adjectives and must be put in the proper order, are not counted as one of the three) Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.
A
beautiful new French car--(opinion - age - origin)
The
small round red bowl--(dimension - shape - color)
An ugly orange cotton shirt--(opinion - color - material)
Some huge old Victorian houses--(dimension - age - origin)
EXCEPTION:
She loves big houses. Does she love old big houses or new big houses? (In the question form, the adjective order changes—age>dimension instead of dimension>age.)
I
want a new sports car.
Do you want a red new car or a blue new car?
(In the question form, the order changes from age>color to
color>age.)
Adjectives
in the same class (age, shape, opinion, etc.) are called
coordinated
adjectives.
You need to put a comma between them.
(See
Commas).
To decide whether or not a comma is needed, try putting and or
but between the adjectives. “The tacky, tasteless furnishings . . .”
CAN be said “The
tacky and tasteless furnishings . . .”
so you know the comma was needed. Tacky
and tasteless are both adjectives of opinion.
When
you have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but
DON’T insert a comma between the last adjective and the noun:
the large, heavy, plump pumpkin.
a pretty, popular, peppy cheerleader.
Just
for fun: Add
your own adjectives of the proper class
| Determiner | Opinion/Fact | Physical Description: | Origin | Material | Qualifier | Noun |
| Size, shape, age, color | ||||||
| three | gorgeous | blue | wool | capes | ||
| cat | ||||||
| peaches | ||||||
| truck | ||||||
| song | ||||||
| river | ||||||
| meal | ||||||
| man |
Order of Adjectives Quiz Which is the Correct Adjective Quiz