order of adjectives

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order of adjectives

 
Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:
He was a nice intelligent young man.
She had a small round black wooden box.

Opinion adjectives:

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:
good
bad
lovely
 strange
beautiful
nice
brilliant
excellent
awful
important
wonderful
nasty
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun:
Food: tasty; delicious
Furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable
People, animals: clever; intelligent; friendly
We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:
Nice tasty soup.
A nasty uncomfortable armchair
A lovely intelligent animal
Usually we put an adjective that gives an opinion in front of an adjective that is descriptive:
a nice red dress; a silly old man; those horrible yellow curtains
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
a handsome young man; a big black car; that horrible big dog
Sometimes we have three adjectives, but this is unusual:
a nice handsome young man;
a big black American car;
that horrible big fierce dog
It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
General
opinion
Specific
opinion
Size
 Shape
Age
 Colour
Nationality
Material
We use some adjectives only after a link verb:
afraid
alive
alone
asleep
content
glad
 ill
ready
sorry
sure
unable
well
Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
annoyed;  finished;  bored; pleased; thrilled
We say:
Our teacher was ill.
My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed
but we do not say:
We had an ill teacher.
When he heard the news he was a very glad uncle
He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
north
south
east
west
 northern
southern
eastern
western
 countless
occasional
lone
 eventful
indoor
outdoor
We say:
He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new machinery.
but we do not say:
The district he lives in is eastern
The problems with the new machinery were countless.

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