The Order of Adjectives

Adjectives are words which give us more information about people, places and things.

Types of adjectives

size: a big house, a fat man, a short skirt, small feet, a tall building
colour: a blue car, a white dove, a pink dress, brown shoes, red apples
quality: a sunny day, a deep ocean, a handsome man, a hot summer, a bumpy road
material: a silk dress, a porcelain vase, a wooden table, a glass door, a plastic bag
place/origin: an Italian car, Swiss chocolate, a Buddhist temple, the Australian flag, a Persian carpet

The order of adjectives

When we use two or more adjectives to describe a noun or pronoun, the usual order is:
size, quality, colour, origin, material. Here are some examples:
a little black dress (size, colour)
an old Chinese silk scarf (quality, origin, material)
crunchy green apples (quality, colour)

Adjectives of quality

Adjectives of quality sometimes come before adjectives of size. Example:
beautiful long hair ( quality, size)

Adjectives of size

But, adjectives of size always come before adjectives of colour. Example:
beautiful long brown hair (quality, size, colour)

Lesson by Nasreen, teacher at EC Cape Town

Complete the sentences with the adjectives in brackets, putting them in the correct order where needed:

• 1.New York is a ___ city with many busy streets.
  
  large, modern, American
  modern, large, American
  
  
• 2. There are several ___ buildings in my country.
  
  white, stone, ancient
  ancient, white, stone
  
  
• 3. Mr Mathews wore a ___ suit and glasses with ___ frames.
  
  smart, blue / thick, black, plastic
  blue, smart / black, thick, plastic
  
  
• 4. Tourists enjoy taking pictures of the ___ birds.
  
  huge, colourful, tropical
  tropical, huge, colourful
  
  
• 5. Cora bought a ___ lantern.
  
  Japanese, paper, big
  big, Japanese, paper
  
  
• 6. Jim drives an ___ car.
  
  elegant, black, Italian
  black, elegant, Italian
  
  
• 7. We sat on the ___ grass admiring the magnificent view.
  
  cool, green
  green, cool
  
  
• 8. Andrew is a ___ man who enjoys eating ___ food.
  
  handsome, tall / spciy Mexican
  tall, handsome / spicy, Mexican
  
  
• 9. Our neighbours have a ___ dog with ___ teeth.
  
  white, sharp / unfriendly, sharp
  huge, unfriendly / sharp, white
  
  
• 10. Mrs Mason is a ___ lady whose garden is full of ___ roses.
  
  British, kind / yellow, bright
  kind, British / bright, yellow