INTRODUCTORY THERE AND IT & ADJECTIVE ORDER

INTRODUCTORY THERE AND IT & ADJECTIVE ORDER

by CARLOS MANCHOLA

​JOSE ALEJANDRO ROSAS

​Introduction

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.

​Adjetive Order

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Opinion An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you).

For example: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult

Size A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is.

For example: large, tiny, enormous, little

Age An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is.

For example: ancient, new, young, old

Shape A shape adjective describes the shape of something.

For example: square, round, flat, rectangular

Colour A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something.

For example: blue, pink, reddish, grey

Origin An origin adjective describes where something comes from.

For example: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek

Material A material adjective describes what something is made from.

For example: wooden, metal, cotton, paper

Purpose A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with “-ing”.

For example: sleeping (as in “sleeping bag”), roasting (as in “roasting tin”)

introductory "There"

​An English sentence such as "A discrepancy was in the experimental results." is possible but unusual. The conventional academic way of putting it is to begin the sentence with "there" and postone the indefinite subject. In this way you can focus on the existence or occurrence of something. Although simple sentences are possible - "There are, however, some discrepancies." - it is more usual to expand the nominal group by post-modification or an adverbial group

They can be desribed as follows:

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There + be + NomGrp + complement

There + be + NomGrp that clause

There + be + NonGRp + to-infinitive clause

There + be + NonGRp + for someone to-infinitive clause

There + be + NomGrp + ing participle

There + be + NomGrp + en participle

There + be + NomGrp + who clause