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In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun -- for example,
"He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When you use more than
one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. This page will
explain the different types of adjectives and the correct order for them.
The basic types of adjectives
OpinionAn opinion adjective explains what you think aboutsomething (other people may not agree with you). Examples:
silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult
Size
A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small
something is. Examples:large, tiny, enormous, little
AgeAn age adjective tells you how young or old something or
someone is. Examples:
ancient, new, young, old
ShapeA shape adjective describes the shape of something.
Examples:
square, round, flat, rectangular
ColourA colour adjective, of course, describes the colour ofsomething. Examples:
blue, pink, reddish, grey
OriginAn origin adjective describes where something comes from.
Examples:French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
MaterialA material adjective describes what something is madefrom. Examples:
wooden, metal, cotton, paper
Purpose
A purpose adjective describes what something is used for.
These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples:
sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting
tin")
Some examples of adjective order
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Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Purpose
a silly young English man
a huge round metal bowl
a small red sleeping bag
When you are sure that you understand the topic, you can click on "First exercise" below
to continue.
Adjective Order
Type the correct noun phrase, putting the adjectives in order.
1. round / small / reading / lamp
2. German / old / yellow / car3. wooden / huge / sailing / ship
4. physics / boring / old / teacher
5. slim / Canadian / handsome / snowboarder
6. sugar / blue / round / bowl
Choose the correct answer.
Q1 - I bought a pair of _____ shoes.
black leather leather black
Q2 - It was a ____ car.
red fast fast red
Q3 - It's a ____ building.
big round round big
Q4 - I bought ____ knife.
a Swiss army an army Swiss
Q5 - It's ____ film.
a beautiful old an old beautiful
Q6 - He's ____ man.
an unfriendly rich a rich unfriendly
Q7 - It's ____ phone.
a mobile expensive an expensive mobile
Q8 - It's ____ village.
an old lovely a lovely old
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Q9 - The ____ visitors were Japanese.
two last last two
Q10 - He's got ____ eyes.
blue big big blue
Q11 - It's a ____ house.
nice new new nice
Q12 - It's ____ airline.
a popular American an American popular
Q13 - It's ____ company
a family old an old family
Q14 - It's a ____ restaurant.
cheap good good cheap
As indicated below, there are several types of general descriptive adjective, which often occur in a
certain order. However, the order of different types of general descriptive adjective is more flexible
than the order of other types of attributive adjective.
Usual Order of Attributive Adjectives
1) certain determiners such as all, both and half
2) determiners including the articles a, and and the;
possessive adjectives e.g. my, his, her, our and their;
demonstrative adjectives e.g. that, these, this, and those; and
certain other determiners such as another, any, each, either,
enough, every, neither, no, some, what and which
3) cardinal numbers e.g. one, two, three; and
certain other determiners such as few, many and several4) determiners such as fewer, fewest, least, less, more and most
5)general descriptive adjectives, often in the following order:
a) adjectives indicating size e.g. large, long, narrow
b) adjectives indicating weight e.g. heavy, light
c) participles and other adjectives e.g. clever, excited, interesting
d) adjectives indicating temperature e.g. cold, hot, warm
e) adjectives indicating humidity e.g. dry, damp, wet
f) adjectives indicating age e.g. new, six-month-old, young
g) adjectives indicating shape e.g. barrel-shaped, round, square
6) adjectives indicating color e.g. blue, grey, white
7) adjectives indicating materials e.g. cloth, leather, metal8) proper adjectives e.g. American, Victorian
9) defining adjectives, usually indicating purpose, method of operation, location,
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time or categories of people
ii. General descriptive adjectives
c)Participles and other general descriptive adjectives which do not fall into any of the othercategories usually follow adjectives indicating size and weight, and precede other types of
attributive adjective. In the following examples, the adjective alert, and the participles twittering
and excited are underlined.
e.g. two large, alert black cats
eleven tiny, twittering birds
many excited children
[EX: an old, curved stick; a curved, old stick]
d) to g) The order of adjectives indicating temperature, humidity, age and shape is not as
predictable as the order of other attributive adjectives. For instance, adjectives indicatingtemperature occur sometimes before and sometimes after general descriptive adjectives such as
clear and hard.
e.g. clear, cold water
cold, hard ice
It should be noted that the position of attributive adjectives indicating age may be altered to change
the emphasis.
e.g. a new, efficient method
an efficient, new method
In the first example, the adjective new is emphasized. In the second example, the adjective efficient
is emphasized.
numbers usually go before adjectives.First, nextand lastgo before one, two, three :
EX: six large eggs
EX: the second big shock
EX: the first three days
AdjectivesDefinition
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence. TheArticles
a, an, and the are adjectives.
the tall professor
the lugubrious lieutenant
a solid commitment
a month's pay a six-year-old child
the unhappiest, richest man
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If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adjective, it is called an Adjective
Clause. My sister, who is much older than I am, is an engineer. If an adjective clause is stripped of
its subject and verb, the resulting modifier becomes an Adjective Phrase: He is the man who is
keeping my family in the poorhouse.
Before getting into other usage considerations, one general note about the use or over-use of
adjectives: Adjectives are frail; don't ask them to do more work than they should. Let your
broad-shouldered verbs and nouns do the hard work of description. Be particularly cautious in your
use of adjectives that don't have much to say in the first place: interesting, beautiful, lovely,
exciting. It is your job as a writer to create beauty and excitement and interest, and when you simply
insist on its presence withoutshowingit to your reader well, you're convincing no one.
Consider the uses of modifiers in this adjectivally rich paragraph from Thomas Wolfe's Look
Homeward, Angel. (Charles Scribner's, 1929, p. 69.) Adjectives are highlighted in this color;
participles, verb forms acting as adjectives, are highlighted in thisblue. Some people would argue
that words that are part of a name like "East India Tea House are not really adjectival and thatpossessive nouns father's, farmer's are not technically adjectives, but we've included them in
our analysis of Wolfe's text.
He remembered yet the EastIndiaTea House at the Fair, the sandalwood, the turbans, and the
robes, the cool interior and the smell ofIndia tea; and he had felt now the nostalgic thrill ofdew-wet
mornings in Spring, the cherry scent, the coolclarion earth, the wet loaminess of the garden, the
pungentbreakfast smells and the floating snow of blossoms. He knew the inchoatesharp excitement
ofhot dandelions in young earth; in July, of watermelonsbedded in sweet hay, inside a farmer's
covered wagon; of cantaloupe and crated peaches; and the scent oforange rind,bitter-sweet, before
a fire of coals. He knew the goodmale smell of his father's sitting-room; of the smoothwornleather
sofa, with the gaping horse-hair rent; of theblisteredvarnished wood upon the hearth; of the heated
calf-skin bindings; of the flatmoist plug ofapple tobacco, stuckwith a red flag; of wood-smoke and
burnt leaves in October; of thebrowntired autumn earth; of honey-suckle at night; ofwarm
nasturtiums, of a cleanruddy farmer who comes weekly withprinted butter, eggs, and milk; offat
limpunderdone bacon and of coffee; of a bakery-oven in the wind; oflargedeep-hued stringbeans
smoking-hot and seasoned well with salt and butter; of a room ofoldpine boards in which books
and carpets have been stored, long closed; ofConcord grapes in theirlongwhite baskets.
An abundance of adjectives like this would be uncommon in contemporary prose. Whether we have
lost something or not is left up to you.
Position of Adjectives
Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence,
adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify.
Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when they do, they appear in a set order
according to category. (SeeBelow.) When indefinite pronouns such as something, someone,
anybody are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun:
Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.
Something wicked this way comes.
And there are certain adjectives that, in combination with certain words, are always "postpositive"
(coming after the thing they modify):
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The president elect, heir apparent to the Glitzy fortune, lives in New York proper.
See, also, the note on a- adjectives, below, for the position of such words as "ablaze, aloof, aghast."
Degrees of Adjectives
Adjectives can express degrees of modification:
Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richerthan Gladys, and Sadie is the richestwoman in
town.
The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. (Actually,
only the comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for comparing two things
and the superlative for comparing three or more things. Notice that the word than frequently
accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the superlative. The inflected suffixes -erand-estsuffice to form most comparatives and superlatives, although we need -ierand -iestwhen a two-
syllable adjective ends iny (happier and happiest); otherwise we use more and mostwhen an adjective
has more than one syllable.
Positive Comparative Superlative
rich richer richest
lovely lovelier loveliest
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
Certain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative degrees:
Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
muchmany
some
more most
far further furthest
Be careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an extreme
of comparison unique, for instance although it probably is possible to form comparative
forms of most adjectives: something can be more perfect, and someone can have afullerfigure.
People who argue that one woman cannot be more pregnantthan another have never been nine-
months pregnant with twins.
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Grammar's Response
According to Bryan Garner, "complete" is one of those adjectives that does notadmit of
comparative degrees. We could say, however, "more nearly complete." I am sure that I have not
been consistent in my application of this principle in the Guide (I can hear myself, now, saying
something like "less adequate" or "more preferable" or "less fatal"). Other adjectives that Garner
would include in this list are as follows:
absolute impossible principal
adequate inevitable stationary
chief irrevocable sufficient
complete main unanimous
devoid manifest unavoidableentire minor unbroken
fatal paramount unique
final perpetual universal
ideal preferable whole
From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by
Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with thegracious consent of Oxford University Press.
Be careful, also, not to use more along with a comparative adjective formed with -ernor to use
mostalong with a superlative adjective formed with -est(e.g., do not write that something is more
heavier or most heaviest).
The as as construction is used to create a comparison expressing equality:
He is as foolish as he is large.
She is as bright as her mother.
Premodifiers with Degrees of Adjectives
Both adverbs and adjectives in their comparative and superlative forms can be accompanied by
premodifiers, single words and phrases, that intensify the degree.
We were a lot more careful this time.
He works a lot less carefully than the other jeweler in town.
We like his work so much better.
You'll get your watch back all the faster.
The same process can be used to downplay the degree:
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The weather this week has been somewhat better.
He approaches his schoolwork a little less industriously than his brother does.
And sometimes a set phrase, usually an informal noun phrase, is used for this purpose:
He arrived a whole lot sooner than we expected.
That's a heck of a lot better.
If the intensifiervery accompanies the superlative, a determiner is also required:
She is wearing her very finest outfit for the interview.
They're doing the very best they can.
Occasionally, the comparative or superlative form appears with a determiner and the thing being
modified is understood:
Of all the wines produced in Connecticut, I like this one the most.
The quicker you finish this project, the better.
Of the two brothers, he is by far the faster.
Authority for this section:A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission.
Less versus Fewer
When making a comparison between quantities we often have to make a choice between the words fewera
Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the wordfewer; when we're talking about me
quantities that we cannot count, we use the word less. "She had fewer chores, but she also had less energy.
managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called e
lanes from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer." Whether that's an actual improvement, we'
up to you.
We do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions:
It's less than twenty miles to Dallas.
He's less than six feet tall. Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
We spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.
In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities assums of countable measures.
Taller than I / me ??
When making a comparison with "than" do we end with a subject form or object form, "taller than I/she" o
than me/her." The correct response is "taller than I/she." We are looking for the subject form: "He is taller
am/she is tall." (Except we leave out the verb in the second clause, "am" or "is.") Some good writers, howe
argue that the word "than" should be allowed to function as a preposition. If we can say "He is tall like me/
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then (if "than" could be prepositional like like) we should be able to say, "He is taller than me/her." It's an
interesting argument, but for now, anyway in formal, academic prose, use the subject form in such
comparisons.
We also want to be careful in a sentence such as "I like him better than she/her." The "she" would mean th
like this person better than she likes him; the "her" would mean that you like this male person better than y
that female person. (To avoid ambiguity and the slippery use ofthan, we could write "I like him better tha
does" or "I like him better than I like her.")
More than / over ??
In the United States, we usually use "more than" in countable numerical expressions meaning "in excess o
"over." In England, there is no such distinction. For instance, in the U.S., some editors would insist on "mo
40,000 traffic deaths in one year," whereas in the UK, "over 40,000 traffic deaths" would be acceptable. E
U.S., however, you will commonly hear "over" in numerical expressions of age, time, or height: "His sisterforty; she's over six feet tall. We've been waiting well over two hours for her."
The Order of Adjectives in a Series
It would take a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say "little brown house" and not "brown
little house" or why we say "red Italian sports car" and not "Italian red sports car." The order in
which adjectives in a series sort themselves out is perplexing for people learning English as a
second language. Most other languages dictate a similar order, but not necessarily the same order. It
takes a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the order often
seems quite arbitrary (if not downright capricious). There is, however, a pattern. You will find
many exceptions to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the pattern
of adjective order if it is not part of what you naturally bring to the language.
The categories in the following table can be described as follows:
I. Determiners articles and other limiters. SeeDeterminers
II. Observation postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and
adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
III. Size and Shape adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
IV. Age adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)V. Color adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
VI. Origin denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)
VII. Material denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen,
metallic, wooden)
VIII. Qualifier final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting
cabin, passenger car, book cover)
THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Determiner Observation Physical Description Origin Material Qualifier No
Size Shape Age Color
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a beautiful old Italian touring car
an expensive antique silver mirro
four gorgeous
long-
stemmed red silk roses
her short black hair
our big old English sheep
those square wooden hat boxe
that dilapidated little hunting cabin
several enormous young American basketball playe
some delicious Thai food
This chart is probably too wide to print on a standard piece of paper. If you clickHERE,you will get a one-page duplicate of this chart, which you can print out on a regular pieceof paper.
It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together.
Furthermore, when adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated
adjectives, and you will want to put a comma between them: the inexpensive, comfortable shoes.
The rule for inserting the comma works this way: if you could have inserted a conjunction and
orbut between the two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are "inexpensive but
comfortable shoes," so we would use a comma between them (when the "but" isn't there). When
you have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma
between the last adjective and the noun (in spite of the temptation to do so because you often pause
there):
a popular, respected, and good looking student
See the section on Commas for additional help in punctuating coordinated adjectives.
Capitalizing Proper Adjectives
When an adjective owes its origins to a proper noun, it should probably be capitalized. Thus wewrite about Christian music, French fries, the English Parliament, the Ming Dynasty, a Faulknerian
style, Jeffersonian democracy. Some periods of time have taken on the status of proper adjectives:
the Nixon era, a Renaissance/Romantic/Victorian poet (but a contemporary novelist and medieval
writer). Directional and seasonal adjectives are not capitalized unless they're part of a title:
We took the northwest route during the spring thaw. We stayed there until the town's annual Fall
Festival of Small Appliances.
See the section on Capitalization for further help on this matter.
Collective Adjectives
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When the definite article, the, is combined with an adjective describing a class or group of people,
the resulting phrase can act as a noun: the poor, the rich, the oppressed, the homeless, the lonely, the
unlettered, the unwashed, the gathered, the dear departed. The difference between a Collective
Noun (which is usually regarded as singular but which can be plural in certain contexts) and a
collective adjective is that the latter is always plural and requires a plural verb:
The rural poor have been ignored by the media.
The rich of Connecticut are responsible.
The elderly are beginning to demand their rights.
The young at heart are always a joy to be around.
Adjectival Opposites
The opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. One way, of
course, is to find an adjective to mean the opposite an antonym. The opposite ofbeautifulis
ugly, the opposite oftallisshort. A thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another
way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number of prefixes. The opposite offortunate is
unfortunate, the opposite ofprudentis imprudent, the opposite ofconsiderate is inconsiderate, the
opposite ofhonorable is dishonorable, the opposite ofalcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite of
being properlyfiledis misfiled. If you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this way
by prefixes (or which is the appropriate prefix), you will have to consult a dictionary, as the rules
for the selection of a prefix are complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can be
tricky; for instance, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.
A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less orleastto create a
comparison which points in the opposite direction. Interesting shades of meaning and tone become
available with this usage. It is kinder to say that "This is the least beautiful city in the state." than it
is to say that "This is the ugliest city in the state." (It also has a slightly different meaning.) A
candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be "less worthy of consideration" than another
candidate. It's probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective that is already a
negative: "He is less unlucky than his brother," although that is not the same thing as saying he is
luckier than his brother. Use the comparative less when the comparison is between two things or
people; use the superlative leastwhen the comparison is among many things or people.
My mother is less patient than my father. Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.
Some Adjectival Problem Children
Good versus Well
In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to choose between the adjective goodand the
well. With most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying a verb, use the adverb.
He swims well.He knows only too well who the murderer is.
However, when using alinking verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses, you want to use t
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adjective instead.
How are you? I'm feeling good, thank you.
After a bath, the baby smells so good.
Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn't look good.
Many careful writers, however, will use wellafter linking verbs relating to health, and this is perfectly all r
fact, to say that you aregoodor that you feelgoodusually implies not only that you're OK physically but a
your spirits are high.
"How are you?"
"I am well, thank you."
Bad versus Badly
When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel badorbadly? Applying the same rule that
goodversus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have to do with human feelings. You felt bad. If y
felt badly, it would mean that something was wrong with your faculties for feeling.
Other Adjectival Considerations
Review the section onCompound Nouns and Modifiers for the formation of modifiers created
when words are connected: a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed fool.
Review the section onPossessives for a distinction between possessive forms and "adjectivallabels." (Do you belong to a Writers Club or a Writers' Club?)
Adjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ingand -edendings, can be troublesome for
some students. It is one thing to be afrightenedchild; it is an altogether different matter to be a
frighteningchild. Do you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are confused
or that you are confusing? Generally, the -edending means that the noun so described ("you") has a
passive relationship with something something (the subject matter, the presentation) has
bewildered you and you are confused. The -ingending means that the noun described has a more
active role you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your
professor).
The -edending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions (these are not the only choices):
We were amazed at all the circus animals.
We were amused by the clowns.
We were annoyed by the elephants.
We werebored by the ringmaster.
We were confused by the noise.
We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.
We were disappointed in their performance.
We were embarrassed bymy brother.
We were exhausted from all the excitement. We were excited bythe lion-tamer.
We were excited about the high-wire act, too.
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We were frightened by the lions.
We were introduced to the ringmaster.
We were interested in the tent.
We were irritated by the heat.
We were opposed to leaving early. We were satisfied with the circus.
We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent.
We were surprised by the fans' response.
We were surprised at their indifference.
We were tired ofall the lights after a while.
We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.
A- Adjectives
The most common of the so-called a- adjectives are ablaze, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, alike, alive,alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware. These adjectives will primarily show up as
predicate adjectives (i.e., they come after a linking verb).
The children were ashamed.
The professor remained aloof.
The trees were ablaze.
Occasionally, however, you will find a- adjectives before the word they modify: the alert patient,
the aloof physician. Most of them, when found before the word they modify, are themselves
modified: the nearly awake student, the terribly alone scholar. And a- adjectives are sometimes
modified by "very much": very much afraid, very much alone, very much ashamed, etc.
Recognizing Adjectives
How's that? Are there any problems? YES, there are problems! The ORDER of adjectives is
quite important in English. There is an order of adjectives that native speakers of English normally
follow. The list below shows how the order of adjectives is usually presented; however, there are
exceptions and different combinations depending on the situation.
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OPINION APPEARANCE AGE COLOR ORIGIN MATERIAL
good
bad
beautifulugly
smart
dumb
usually follows
this order:
size/measure
big
small
high
low
shape
round
circular
square
condition
broken
cracked
ripped
fresh
rotten
new
antique
oldyoung
two-
year-
old*
red
purple
pinkdark
green
navy
blue
Korean
Chinese
FrenchItalian
American
iron
brass
cottongold
wooden
vegetable
*Adjectives are never plural. Therefore, when the adjectivecontains a number and noun, the noun associated with thenumber is singular.
This is a three-year-old car. CORRECT
This is a three-years-old car. INCORRECT
Using the above list, we can put all four adjectives together to get the following sentence:
I want to buy a beautiful, new, blue,Europeancar.
Adding adjectives is very important if you want to make your writing more interesting. Ithelps the reader/listener form a picture in his/her mind.
For example, which of these two sentences is more descriptive and interesting? Whichdraws a picture in the reader's mind?
1 I want to buy a car.
-OR-2 I want to buy a beautiful, new, blue, European car.
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Of course the second sentence is more descriptive and interesting. The reader can seethe car in his/her mind. If you would like to learn more ways to make your writinginteresting, please see our other lessons on this topic. Just go tohttp://www.MyEnglishTeacher.net/previous.html.
Quiz
Directions: Look at the following sentences and adjectives. Rewrite the sentences usingthe adjectives in blue. Be sure to write them in the correct order.
1. Aunt Betty wants a coffee table. (stone, square, gray)
2. The king took a trip. (2-week, exhausting)
3. These are cookies! (chocolate chip, delicious, huge)
4. Alice prefers furniture. (leather, Italian, black)
5. Archeologists get very excited when they find bones. (animal, large, prehistoric)
1. Aunt Betty wants a square, gray, stone coffee table.
2. The king took an exhausting,2-week trip.
*exhausting refers to opinion
3. These are delicious, huge, chocolate chip cookies!
*chocolate chip refers to a material used to make the cookies
4. Alice prefers black, Italian, leatherfurniture.
5. Archeologists get very excited when they find large, prehistoric, animal bones.
*prehistoric refers to age
Word Order for Adjectives Exercise at Auto-English
Below you can see a diagram explaining the position of adjectives before a noun. Use it to answer thequestions which follow.
OPINION CONDITION SIZE AGE COLOUR ORIGIN MATERIAL NOUN
Order the words in the boxes.
my teacher old maths smelly
1 ___________________________________
new a perfect system
8
___________________________________
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black small box Turkish a old
2 ___________________________________
18th century a Scottish fantastic castle
9
___________________________________
man a fat friendly young
3 ___________________________________
a businessmanhorrible
greedy
10 ___________________________________
tall our headmaster boring
4 ___________________________________
a big old brown bear
11 ___________________________________
wooden dark a table long
5 ___________________________________
student self-righteous a middle-class
12 ___________________________________
city
a Spanish beautiful old
6 ___________________________________
spoilt boy nasty a little
13 ___________________________________
arts nice teacher French our
7 ___________________________________
green-eyed gorgeous black-haired a girl
14 ___________________________________
Word Order for Adjectives Exercise answers
OPINION CONDITION SIZE AGE COLOUR ORIGIN MATERIAL NOUN
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1
Mys
mellyoldmathst
eacher
my teacher old maths smelly
2 a small old black Turkish box
black smallbox
Turkish
a old
3 a friendly fat young man
man a fat friendly young
4 our boring tall headmaster
tallour
headmaster boring
5 a long dark wooden table
woodendark
a table long
6 a beautiful old Spanish city
city
a Spanish beautiful old
7 our nice French arts teacher
arts nice teacherour
French
8 a perfect new system
new a perfect system
9 a fantastic 18th century Scottish castle
18thcentury
a Scottish fantastic castle
10 a horrible greedy businessman
a business horrible greedy
11 a big old brown bear
a big old brown bear
12 a self-righteous middle-class student
studentself-righteous
amiddle-class
13 a nasty spoilt little boy
spoiltboy
nasty a little
14 a gorgeous black-haired green-eyed girl
green-eyed
gorgeous
black-haired a girl
Adjective OrderCILL Home
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Adjectives cannot be written in any order. There are rules, so you
should use the following order:
1. Determiner or article
Determiners e.g. this, that, these, those, my, mine,
your, yours, him, his, her, hers, they, their, Sam's ; or Articles - a, an, the
2. Opinion adjective
e.g. polite, fun, cute, difficult, hard-working
3. Size, including adjectives, comparatives and superlatives
height; e.g. tall, short, high, low; taller, tallest
width; e.g. wide, narrow, thin, slim; wider, widest
length; e.g. long, short; longer, longest
volume; e.g. fat, huge; fatter, fattest
4. Shape
e.g. circular, oval, triangular, square, 5-sided, hexagonal,
irregular
5. Age
e.g. new, young, adolescent, teenage, middle-aged, old,
ancient
6. Colour
e.g. red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, grey,
black, black and white, light blue, dark red, pale blue, reddishbrown, off-white, bright green, warm yellow
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7. Nationality
e.g. Hong Kong, Chinese, English, American, Canadian,
Japanese
8. Religione.g. Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Moslem, pagan, atheist
9. Material
e.g. wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, paper, silk
10. Noun used as an adjective
e.g. campus (as in 'campus activities')
11. The noun that the adjectives are describing.
Sentence structure:Together the article or determiner, adjective(s) and noun(s) make a
'noun phrase'. Noun phrases can also have adverbs describing the
adjectives; e.g. nearly circular; and can also have relative clauses,
although these are not discussed on this page.
Style:
Although it is possible to write a sentence that uses all the categories;
e.g. 'my beautiful, long, curving, new, pink, western, Christian, silk
wedding dress', it is bad style as it is too long. Try to use less than
five adjectives in a single list. Therefore you could say "Have you
seen my beautiful new cream silk wedding dress? It's long and
curving, and is in western Christian style."
How to remember the order
You can use the 'Roman room' memorisation technique. This involves
remembering a place that you know well, such as your home, and
imagining walking through it, looking at things.
12. Imagine that you arrive at the door of your home. On the door
is the letter 'A', and you are greeted by someone who lives
there. This helps you to remember the article 'A' or thedeterminer(s); e.g. my Mother's.
13. Imagine that you are happy to see each other. This helps you
to remember the opinion adjective.
14. Imagine the size of your home: is it big, small, or long? This
helps you to remember the size adjectives.
15. Imagine that you go into your home and you see an object.
Remember the shape of the object.
16. Now imagine that you walk around your home; e.g. towards
your room. Think of another object further from the door.
Think of the age of that object; e.g. new or old.
17. Move on to another object, this time a colourful one.Remember what colourit is.
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18. Move on to another object. This object should remind you of a
foreign place; e.g. a picture of somewhere in China, or a
souvenir from a holiday abroad. This is to help you remember
nationality.
19. Next imagine moving to another object, this time a religiousone. Maybe you have a place for worshipping your ancestors,
or a statue of Buddha.
20. Next move to another object. This should be special because it
is made of one material; e.g. a crystal ornament or a wooden
statue.
21. Finally move to a place where there is an object that is
described with 2 words, and the first is a noun; e.g. a book
shelf. Imagine that this is the end of your journey around your
flat.
Correct the order of the adjectives and nouns in the following
sentences, then click the 'See Answer' buttons to see the correct
noun phrases:
Aim:
This page is to help you write good e-mail messages.
Instructions:
Read the guidelines below, then do the activity.
E-mail Guidelines
E-mail: InboxTo: All members of staff
From: Jennifer Ranford
Date: 10 May 2010
Subject: E-mail Writing Guidelines
Please note and follow the guidelines below concerning the writing of company e-mail
messages.
1. Subjects
Give the message a subject/title. E-mail messages without a subject may not be opened
because of a fear of viruses and especially note that it is very easy to forget to type this
important information.
2. Subject contents
Keep the subject short and clear but avoid such headings as:
Good News, Hello, Message from Mary. These headings are common in messagescontaining viruses. Short but specific headings are needed,
e.g. Order No. 2348X
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Delayed Shipment
Laboratory Equipment Order
3. Greetings
Start the message with a greeting so as to help create a friendly but business-like tone. The
choice of using the other name versus the surname will depend on who you are writing to. If
you have communicated with the receiver previously and he/she is at a similar level to you,
then the use of the other name would be appropriate. If the receiver is more senior to you, or
if you are in doubt, it would be safer (particularly in the first communication) to use the
persons surname/family name together with a title,
e.g. Dear Mr Smithson, Dear Ms Stringer.
It is also becoming quite common to write the greeting without a comma,
e.g. Dear Miss Lawson
e.g. Dear KK
4. Purpose
Start with a clear indication of what the message is about in the first paragraph.
Give full details in the following paragraph(s).
Make sure that the final paragraph indicates what should happen next.
e.g. I will send a messenger to your office on Tuesday morning to collect the faulty goods.
e.g. Please let me have your order by the beginning of the month.
5. Action
Any action that you want the reader to do should be clearly described, using politeness
phrases. Subordinates should use expressions such as 'Could you...' or ' I would be gratefulif...'. Superior staff should also use polite phrases, for example, 'Please...'.
6. Attachments
Make sure you refer, in the main message, to any attachments you are adding and of course
make extra sure that you remember to include the attachment(s). As attachments can
transmit viruses, try not to use them, unless you are sending complicated documents. Copy-
and-paste text-only contents into the body of the e-mail. If you use an attachment, make sure
the file name describes the content, and is not too general; e.g. 'message.doc' is bad, but 'QA
Report 2010.doc' is good.
7. EndingsEnd the message in a polite way. Common endings are:
Yours sincerely, Best regards, Best wishes, Regards,
If you did not put a comma after the greeting at the beginning of the message, then do not
put a comma after the ending either,
e.g. Best wishes
e.g. Regards
8. Names
Include your name at the end of the message. It is most annoying to receive an email which
does not include the name of the sender. The problem is that often the email address of the
sender does not indicate exactly who it is from, e.g. 0385915d@polyu.edu.hk
Please follow these guidelines with all e-mail messages that you send.
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Kind regards
Jennifer Ranford
Human Resources Manager
Activity
Instructions:
Choose the best options from the drop-down boxes below, then press the 'Send' button.
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language, for example, boss to employee language, when talking to someone of higher status than
you.
Instructions: Read the e-mail and then answer the questions:
Questions
a. Do you think Sally is senior, junior or approximately equal to David?
[See Answer]
.
b. Which parts of the text that indicate this?
[See Answer]
.
c. Although it is not necessary for names to be included in an e-mail (since they are written atthe top), Sally has done this. Why?
[See Answer]
.
d. Why has Sally used numbered points in this e-mail?
[See Answer]
.
e. What are the examples of informal language in the e-mail?
[See Answer]
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Language to Show Status
English in the Workplace
Finding a Job
Memos &
Letters
Reports
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