UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE

CHIMBORAZO FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN, HUMANAS Y

TECNOLOGÍAS

ESCUELA DE IDIOMAS

GRAMMAR V

ORDER OF ADJECTIVES

INTEGRANTS

SUSANA NOVILLOPATRICIA VINUEZA

RONALD MARROQUÍN

2015

ADJECTIVE ORDER

The use of adjectives is essential when trying to describe a noun or pronoun.  Good writers and

speakers are able to use adjectives to create clear, mental images for the reader or listener.  As you

continue to work on your English, don’t be afraid to use multiple adjectives to describe something.

Using more than three physically descriptive type adjectives in sequence to describe one noun or

pronoun would sound a little awkward.   When using multiple adjectives in a sequence, you must

be aware of the correct adjective order. 

Adjectives can be used to describe lots of things, from physical size, age, shape, colour,

material, to more abstract things like opinion, origin and purpose.

We can use adjectives together to give a detailed description of something.

Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others, but it can sometimes depend on

what exactly you want to emphasize.

For example: 

- "That's a nice, big, blue bag." (You like the bag.)

"- That's a nice blue." (You like the colour.)

When we group adjectives together there is a general (sometimes flexible) rule for the position

of each type of adjective, these are:-

Positio

n

1st* 2nd* 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

Opinio

n

Size Age Shape Colour Materia

l

Origin Purpos

e

Nice Small Old Square Black Plastic British Racing

Ugly Big New Circular Blue Cotton America Running

n

 

You might swap adjectives that express an opinion and an adjective based on fact depending on

what you wish to emphasize:-

For example:

"She had a long, ugly nose." emphasizing the length of her nose.

"He was a silly, little man." emphasizing that the man was silly.

This is just for fun as you wouldn't normally see so many adjectives in one description.

For example:

"She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, stripy, cotton, British, knitting bag."

Here are some examples:

"The interesting, small, rectangular, blue car is parked in my space."

"I bought a beautiful, long, red, Italian, silk tie."

"My father lives in a lovely, gigantic, ancient, brick house."

"I have an annoying, small, circular, American, tin, alarm clock that wakes me up."

"Let’s order a delicious, huge, rectangular, pepperoni pizza."

"We all love our smart, petite, British teacher."

"They all received several dazzling, small, ancient, gold coins."

"She owns a stunning, large, old, brown dog named Boris."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

British Council. Order of adjectives. Recuperado de: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-

grammar/adjectives/order-adjectives

Learn English Grammar, (1999-2015). English Adjectives. Recuperado de:

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectiveorder.html

English grammar, (2015). Adjectives - Word order. Recuperado de:

http://www.grammar.cl/english/adjectives-word-order.htm

Learn English,(2009). Adjective Word Order. Recuperado de:

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/adjective-word-order