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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Order of Adjectives. Just what you need to know!

Did you know that adjectives have an order? Check out this website - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/about-adjectives-and-adverbs/adjectives-order


order
relating to
examples
1
opinion
unusual, lovely, beautiful
2
size
big, small, tall
3
physical quality
thin, rough, untidy
4
shape
round, square, rectangular
5
age
young, old, youthful
6
colour
blue, red, pink
7
origin
Dutch, Japanese, Turkish
8
material
metal, wood, plastic
9
type
general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped
10
purpose
cleaning, hammering, cooking


So, following this rule, we can see that this sentence sounds right:

I bought a beautiful, tall, green vase.

While this sentence feels awkward:

I bought a green, tall, beautiful vase.

If those rules are too exact for you here, try this website: 

https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/adjectives/order-of-adjectives/
 https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/adjectives/order-of-adjectives/

  1. Quantity or number
  2. Quality or opinion
  3. Size
  4. Age
  5. Shape
  6. Color
  7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
  8. Purpose or qualifier   
Considering this set, we can try out a sentence:

The three, untidy, country boys roughhoused.

Which sounds better than:

The untidy, country, three boys roughhoused. 

Next time you 'e describing something, consider these rules and see if your natural speech follows the proper order. I'm betting that your large, intelligent brain does it automatically!




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