Order of Adjectives
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Order of Adjectives
Adjectives are words that are used to describe, for example, a blue car or a stripy jumper. Using more adjectives means your description is clearer. When we use several different types of adjectives in a sentence, they have a specific order in which they appear. Let’s learn more about the order of adjectives.
Revision – Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe a noun. So, if you want to describe how a noun is, looks, smells, sounds, tastes or feels, you will need adjectives to describe it. The position of adjectives is always close the nouns they describe:
| Article | Adjective | Noun |
|---|---|---|
| The | green | tree |
Adjectives may also be connected to the noun via a verb. The sentence below shows an example:
| Article | Noun | Verb | Adjective |
|---|---|---|---|
| The | tree | is | green. |
Order of Adjectives in English Grammar
Oftentimes you will have more than one adjective at hand to describe a noun. In the English language, there is a fixed order to adjectives whenever the sentence includes more than one adjective. We can use a list as shown below to see the correct order of adjectives.
Order of Adjectives – Example
Let’s have a look at the order of adjectives examples. Here is a picture of a tree but what more can we say about the tree?
We could talk about the size of the tree, it is big. We could also describe the age of the tree, it is old. Underneath the picture are four adjectives:
- old
- big
- lovely
- a
Using the list above, which adjective will be start with? Using our list of categories for adjectives, we can fill in the adjectives into categories:
| Category | Example |
|---|---|
| number | a |
| opinion | lovely |
| size | big |
| age | old |
We would start with number. In this case the word a describes the number, there is just one, or a tree. Next we move onto opinion. The word lovely here is an opinion so this comes next. Now we can describe the size, big and finally the age, old. Therefore, the order of adjectives in a sentence this time is: This is a, lovely, big, old tree.
When writing, you can think about the order of adjectives in sentences. We don’t always have to use all of the types of adjectives in the list but the ones we do use we must write in the correct order.
Here we have used an opinion (“sleek”), age (“new”) and colour (“blue”).
Order of Adjectives – Summary
Remember, there is a fixed order in which we use adjectives in the English language. To find out, in which order to use adjectives, you need to sort them into one of these categories from the chart below:
| Category | Example |
|---|---|
| number | three |
| opinion | friendly |
| size | small |
| age | new |
| shape | round |
| color | green |
Also on this website you can find order of adjectives exercises on our order of adjectives worksheets with answers PDF. Have a look at the order of adjectives exercises and interactive activities too!
Transcript Order of Adjectives
Koko and Pip want to decorate their treehouse, so they decide to spruce the place up with some artwork. “What should we paint, Koko?” “I think we should paint a landscape with a couple of objects in it.” "Describe what they look like Koko, so I know what to paint!" "Sure! I'll describe the objects using "Order of Adjectives." Nouns are people, places, things and ideas. Examples are a boy, a house, a car and luck. ADJECTIVES are words we put in FRONT of nouns that describe them to others. More adjectives mean your descriptions are clearer. When we use several different types of adjectives in a sentence, they have a specific order in which they appear. The type of adjective used affects the order in which they appear. First, we give the NUMBER to describe how many there are. Secondly, we give our OPINION about the noun. Beautiful, scary, funny are all examples of opinion adjectives. Then, we describe the size of the noun, such as gigantic or tiny. Next, we describe the age as possibly young or old. Next, we describe the shape of the noun. Something could be described as crooked or straight, and then, we describe the colour. There are some adjectives that are used more often than others, and you don't have to use ALL of these adjectives every time. We can remember to use the order of adjectives when describing things to others! Let's practice putting some adjectives before a noun. Koko and Pip are putting a tree in their painting. We can give several adjectives to describe what the tree should look like. We have FOUR adjectives for the noun, tree. Using the list, let's put them in order. Do we give a number, or tell how many there are? Yes, there is the article, 'a' that describes that there is one tree. Are any of these adjectives an opinion? Yes, 'lovely' is an opinion, so it is listed next. Which of these words describes the size of the tree? "'Big', so put that after 'lovely'." We also described the age, and 'old' is listed next. We didn't use all of the adjective categories, so the noun, tree, comes next. This is a lovely, big, old tree. Notice the commas in this sentence. When listing several adjectives we put commas to seperate them. We do not put a comma between the last adjective and the noun. Koko and Pip will also paint some doves. Let’s put these adjectives in the correct order to describe what the doves look like. What is the first adjective we should use to describe the doves? The number, three. Which adjective should come next? The opinion that the doves are beautiful is next. What kind of adjective is white? White is a colour adjective, so it should go after beautiful. The sentence reads, "There are three, beautiful, white doves flying in the sky." Before we see Koko and Pip's paintings, let's review. Remember, ADJECTIVES are words we put in FRONT of nouns that describe them to others. When we use several different types of adjectives in a sentence, they have a specific order in which they appear. The order of adjectives are: number, opinion, size, age, shape, and colour. There are some adjectives that are used less often on the list, and you won't use all of these adjectives every time. But, it is important to use this order of adjectives to communicate clearly with others. "Ok, time for the BIG reveal!"
"I've painted a happy tree and I have given him some friends." "That's lovely!"
Order of Adjectives exercise
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Identify the correct order of adjectives
HintsHere is an example of a sentence with adjectives in the correct order:
The four, cute, small, young, round, yellow bees flew to their honeycomb.
Colour adjectives are closest to the noun being described.
SolutionThe correct order of adjectives is as follows:
- Number
- Opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Colour
-
Determine the position of an adjective before a noun.
HintsColour adjectives are closest to the noun.
Articles such as a and the are considered numbers. They help to tell how many things are being described.
SolutionThe correct order of adjectives is as follows:
- Number
- Opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Colour
-
Identify which sentence has the correct order of adjectives.
HintsHere is an example sentence with the adjectives in the correct order:
Bruce is a kind, blue penguin.
SolutionTwo friendly, grey, marsupials are hanging out.
This is correct because the number (two) comes before the opinion (friendly), and the colour (grey).
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Determine the type of adjective.
HintsHere is a sentence with the correct order of adjectives:
There are three, large, brown ducks swimming in the pond.
Here, soft is an opinion.
SolutionNumbers are highlighted in green.
- one
- two
- sleepy
- soft
- large
- green
- pink
-
Put the adjectives in the order they would appear before the noun.
HintsThe adjective long can be used to describe size.
Use the adjective to describe size before the adjective to describe colour.
SolutionThe words in the correct order are: a long blue river.
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Combining adjectives to build descriptions.
HintsArticles such as "a" and "the" are used as numbers in the order of adjectives.
Remember, adjectives have a specific order in a sentence.
The three animals are all best friends.
SolutionHere is the paragraph with the correct answers. Remember, the order of adjectives in a sentence is as follows:
- Number
- Opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Colour
