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Order of adjectives

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Adjectives

Read in Spanish

Practice with the exercises:

Exercise 1

1. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that accompany and modify a noun, since they give us information about something or someone. In English, adjectives are usually placed in front of a noun, or after certain verbs (be, look, smell...).

This is a blue towel.

These towels are blue.

2. The order of adjectives in English

When we want to describe the characteristics of an object, person..., we can use one or more adjectives at the same time; in English they have a specific way to put adjectives in the correct order.

Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Pattern	Nationality	Material	Purpose
Nice	Big	Old	Round	Pink	Plain	American	Plastic	Shopping
Cheap	Small	New	Oval	Pale	Spotted	Italian	Leather	Typing
Interesting	Tall	Young	Square	Tanned	Flecked	Spanish	Iron	Sleeping
Gorgerous	Thin	Modern	Flat	Silver	Flowery	Indian	Wooden	Race
Intelligent	Long	Ancient	Curved	Blue	Striped	French	Steel	Running
Annoying	Short	Updated	Spherical	White	Checked	Chinese	Denim	Football
Boring	Thick	Outdated	Straight	Yellow	Printed	English	Straw	Reading
Great	Wide	Junior	Steep	Orange	Argyle	German	Paper	Winter
Amazing	Narrow	Senior	Hollow	Red	Tie-dyed	Egyptian	Glass	Working

This table will serve as a guide, although it is not a closed order, since it can change depending on which adjective we want to emphasize.

She has some cheap new colourful trainers.

Following the table, the order is:
cheap (opinion), new (age) and colourful (colour)

He's a nice young guy.

Following the table, the order is: nice (opinion) and young (age)

3. Comments

Usually between one and three adjectives are used, it is not very common to use more.

She is wearing a gorgerous pink silk dress.

It is a reusable shopping bag.
When two adjectives of the same category are used, the order is decided by the speaker. And although in general no comma is put between adjectives, when they are of the same category they have to be separated by a comma, or by the particle and.

This is my lovely, intelligent dog.

She's got red and blue hair.

Remember!

When we want to use two or more adjectives to describe something we follow this order:

Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Pattern	Nationality	Material	Purpose
Nice	Big	Old	Round	Pink	Plain	American	Plastic	Shopping
Cheap	Small	New	Oval	Pale	Spotted	Italian	Leather	Typing
Interesting	Tall	Young	Square	Tanned	Flecked	Spanish	Iron	Sleeping

She was wearing an expensive diamond engagement ring.

It is an old black and white film.

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