The order of adjectives
In English, we often use more than one adjective to describe a noun. When we use two or more adjectives, we generally put them in the following order:
Quantity or number: five, thirty, two thousand, one million, two trillion, five billion, first, twentieth, ninth
Opinion, attitudes, observations: beautiful, clean, elegant, fancy, handsome, interesting, magnificent, plain, tasty, ugly
- General opinion usually comes before specific opinion.
- General opinion can describe almost any noun.
- A good dog. A good soup.
- Specific opinion describes a specific noun.
- A spicy soup and a friendly dog. We do not say a friendly soup and a spicy dog.
- A good spicy soup and a good friendly dog.
- A spicy soup and a friendly dog. We do not say a friendly soup and a spicy dog.
- General opinion can describe almost any noun.
Size, height: big, huge, large, small, tall, tiny
Temperature: cold, hot, warm, tepid, boiling, freezing
Age, new or old? antique, old, new, retro, young
Shape, weight, length: flat, long, oblong, round, square
Colour: blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, reddish
Condition, state: clean, damp, dry, happy, hungry, rich, sad
Pattern: checkered, crisscross, flecked, flowered, flowery, linear, shapeless, spotted, striped
Origin: African, American, Belgian, British, Canadian, English, French, Indian, Italian, Irish, Moroccan, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Welsh
Material: acrylic, aluminum, bamboo, bronze, cardboard, concrete, copper, gold, plastic, silver, steel, wood
Purpose: driving, flying, gardening, listening, riding, shopping, swimming, typing
Quantity / Opinion / Size / Temperature / Age / Shape / Color / Condition / Pattern / Origin / Material / Purpose
Sentences
- There are five beautiful antique lamps.
- I enjoyed the freezing cold soup.
- The huge green striped table-cloth is dirty.
- The small French bamboo chair broke.
- I like the checkered French table-cloth on the lovely clean table.
- I need a large and sharp cutting knife to prepare the meal.
- He always cleans his dirty gardening tools before putting them away.
- Their Italian marble bathroom is beautiful.
- The hungry children ate their delicious sandwiches.
- There were two red Italian cars in the parking lot.
Adjectives are often placed in front of a noun. Some adjectives are placed after the verb TO BE and other link verbs.
- The huge, green, striped table-cloth IS dirty.
- The huge, green, striped table-cloth IS what? The huge, green, striped table IS dirty. Dirty is an adjective that describes the STATE of the table-cloth and is placed after the verb TO BE.
A link or linking verb is a verb that connects the subject of the verb to additional information that is needed to form a complete a sentence. How we use link verbs:
- We cannot say: The delicious hot soup TASTES. The soup tastes WHAT? We need additional information: DELICIOUS.
- The hot soup TASTES delicious. The adjective delicious is placed after the link verb TO TASTE.
- We cannot say: The table-cloth IS. The table-cloth is WHAT? We need additional information: DIRTY
- The table-cloth IS dirty. Dirty is placed after the link verb TO BE.
- We cannot say: The old dirty table-cloth IS. The old table-cloth is WHAT? We need additional information: DIRTY
- The old table-cloth IS dirty. Dirty is placed after the link verb TO BE.
- We cannot say: The brown new book LOOKS. The book looks WHAT? We need additional information: NEW or BROWN?
- The brown book LOOKS new. New is placed after the link verb TO LOOK.
- The new book looks brown. Brown is placed after the link verb TO LOOK.
- We cannot say: The Spanish easy quiz SEEMS. The quiz seems WHAT? We need additional information: EASY
- The Spanish quiz SEEMS easy. Easy is placed after the link verb TO SEEM.
Other examples of link verbs: to act, to appear, to become, to feel, to get, to grow, to remain, to smell, to sound, to stay, to taste …
- They are acting crazy.
- He appeared confused.
- We will become frustrated.
- The blanket felt soft.
- The children got excited.
- It seemed dangerous.
- We will remain silent.
- The chewing gum smells fruity.
- It sounds delightful.
- The light stayed red.
- The soup tastes good.
Tip: Some verbs can be link verbs AND action verbs.
- I tasted the salad. (Action verb) The salad tasted delicious. (Link verb)
Tip: Be, Seem, Become are always link verbs.
- The dog seems tired.
- The dog is tired.
- The dog became tired.