12. Adjective Order

Adjective Order

“Every Sunday, my grandma makes an Italian big meal,” said no one ever.

Why? 

Why?

It’s technically correct—it’s a big meal, it’s Italian food, and your grandma makes it.

But it doesn’t sound quite right, and that’s because the adjective order in that sentence isn’t correct.

In English, the rules regarding adjective order are more specific than they are in other languages; that is why saying adjectives in a specific order sounds “right,” and deviating from that order makes a statement sound “wrong,” even if it’s otherwise grammatically perfect. 

Adjective order in English

• Determiner: The, your, our, these  

• Quantity: One, seven, many, few.

• Opinion: Delicious, heroic, misunderstood, valuable.

• Size: Huge, tiny, medium-sized, small.

• Age: New, old, decades-old, second-newest.

Adjective order in English

• Shape: Square, round, triangular, geometric.

• Color: Blue, gray, yellow, red

• Origin/material: American, wooden, velvet, African

• Qualifier: Hound dog, denim skirt, pickup truck, vampire bat

We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:

• a big black car

• a handsome young man

• that lovely small dog

Multiple Choice

The first 3 categories of adjectives are:

• origin, material, purpose

• opinion, size, age

• color, origin, material

• shape, color, origin

Multiple Choice

An example of adjective of age is:

• awful

• plastic

• Spanish

• new

Multiple Choice

An example of adjective of shape is:

• wooden

• square

• new

• expensive

Multiple Choice

Monkeys like to live in a _____.

• wide forest bright

• bright wide forest

• forest wide bright

• wide bright forest

Multiple Choice

My uncle and aunt's cats have _____.

• short black round nose

• short round black nose

• black round short nose

• round short black nose

Multiple Choice

My sister has a lot of cats. The cats have _____.

• black short nose

• short black nose

• nose short black

• short nose black

Multiple Choice

Rattlesnakes have _____.

• long sharp fangs

• sharp long fangs

• fangs long sharp

• fangs sharp long

Order of Adjectives Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuWhaA7P22Y