Adjective Order

OpinionAn opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you).For example: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult

SizeA size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is.For example: large, tiny, enormous, little

AgeAn 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

ColourA 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”)

O Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above. Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.

O A wonderful old Italian clock. (opinion - age - origin)

O A big square blue box. (size - shape - color)O A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion

- color - material)O Some slim new French trousers. (size - age -

origin)

1. He wears a ________ shirt. a. dirty old flannel b. flannel old dirty c. old dirty flannel

2. Pass me the ________ cups. a. plastic big blueb. big blue plasticc. big plastic blue

3. All the girls fall in love with the ________ teacher.a. handsome new Americanb. American new handsomec. new handsome American

4. I drive ________ car.a. a blue old Germanb. an old German bluec. an old blue German

5. He recently married a ________ woman.a. young beautiful Greekb. beautiful young Greekc. beautiful Greek young

6. This is a ________ movie.a. new Italian wonderfulb. wonderful Italian newc. wonderful new Italian

7. She is a ________ supermodel. a. beautiful slim Brazilianb. Brazilian beautiful slimc. slim Brazilian beautiful

8. It's in the ________ container.a. large blue metalb. blue large metalc. blue metal large

9. He sits behind a ________ desk. a. big wooden brownb. big brown woodenc. wooden big brown

10. She gives him a ________ vase. a. small Egyptian blackb. black Egyptian smallc. small black Egyptian