ADJECTIVE ORDER

and other words that come before nouns

Created by Robert Eastland

Article, Possessive, Quantifier, Number, or Demonstrative First!

• a/an• the• my• their• some• many• any• this• those• etc.

Number after article (or in place of)

• Three (e.g., The three students at the front of the class were early.)

• First (e.g., The one thing I learned was how to smile.)

• Many- used with plurals (e.g., There are many mountains in Canada.)

• Some- usually used with uncountable nouns (e.g., I would like some water.)

First Orders

• Possessive OR article- a/n, the

• first, next and last (previous)

• numbers-one, two, three, etc.

• The first three days

• His last two jobs

• My next holiday

Next-Opinions before Facts!

• 'OPINION' ADJECTIVES  •     Adjectives like beautiful and nice are

opinion adjectives. They tell us what you think about somebody or something.

• 'FACT' ADJECTIVES•       Adjectives like new, large, and blue are

fact adjectives. They give us factual information about age, size, and color.

Examples of opinion before fact:

• -  an interesting (opinion) old (fact)  book• -  some refreshing (o) cool (f ) water• -  A nice (o) Spanish (f) guitar• -  A delicious (o) chocolate (f) cake• -  a pair of classy (o) leather (f) shoes• -  A beautiful (opinion) small (f) yellow (f)

Chinese (f) doll

Fact Adjectives (there are many, many categories – here are some of them):

• SIZE:       How big?         Large, small, tiny, enormous

• AGE:      How old?           New, young, old, ancient• SHAPE:    What shape?     Square, round,

rectangular, flat• COLOUR:    What color?      Blue, pink, yellow,

green• ORIGIN:    Where from?      Thai, Canadian,

American, Chinese• MATERIAL: What it is made of?    Plastic, metal,

glass, wooden• PURPOSE : What it  is used for?    Racing car,

frying pan, sleeping bag 

Adjective Order (examples):

• a wonderful old Italian clock (opinion - age - origin)

• two big square blue boxes (dimension - shape - color)

• fresh blue cotton sheets (opinion - color - material)

• a pair of slim new French pants (dimension - age - origin)

Although there are exceptions, adjectives of size and shape often come first.

• The round glass table (NOT the glass round table)

• A big, modern brick house (NOT a modern, big brick house)

• A pair of Long steel poles

• A tall, ancient oak tree

Adjectives of color, origin, material and purpose usually go in that order.

• Color origin material purpose noun red Spanish leather riding boots brown German beer mug

Venetian glass flower vase

Too Much to Remember?

• Probably, but practice will help

• Try not to use too many adjectives at once!

• If you can’t remember, use a chart!