Order of Adjectives

Order of Adjectives: Adjectives modify the noun and it is also known as describing words. Adjectives add colour to the written and spoken word. For instance: ‘Pamela’s hair is long’ gives a picture of Pamela’s hair. When we say, ‘Pamela’s hair was long, wavy and brown in colour’. This sentence is a better word picture giving us a better idea of Pamela’s hair. When two or more adjectives need to be used like in this sentence, the order of adjectives has to be followed.

1. Quantity or Number
2. Quality
3. Size
4. Age
5. Shape
6. Colour
7. Origin
8. Material
9. Purpose

Practise Exercise

Put the following adjectives in correct order to qualify the noun given

1. A _____________________ bike. (black, new)
2. An_____________________ book. ( interesting, old)
3. _________________________ chocolates. (delicious, Swiss)
4. A ________________ cat. ( silly, old)
5. A _________________ car. ( American, big)
6. ____________________ ( light, green)
7. A ____________________ girl. (fat, tall)
8. A _____________________ cake. (chocolate, round)
9. ______________________ apples. (Kashmiri, red)
10. A _______________________ guitar. ( fibre glass, new)
11. _____________________ steps. ( large, twenty)
12. A _______________________ ( long, interesting)
13. A ________________________ bottle ) water, plastic)
14. A __________________________ carpet. ( oval, woman)
15. A ______________________ box. ( wooden, treasure)

Put the following adjectives in correct order to qualify the noun given

1. Sara had a ______________ bow in her hair yesterday. (nice, yellow, big)
2. She lost a _________________ cat. (small, spotted, white)
3. I bought ________________________ oranges. ( great, some, big)
4. We met ___________________girls in the park. ( very, smart, two)
5. The clown in the circus was wearing a ____________________________hat.( big, green, pointed)
6. You baked _________________________ cake. (vanilla, delicious,three)
7. It is a _________________________ day. ( hot, windy, long)
8. My uncle wore a _____________________tie. (blue, silk, spotted)
9. Did you see ________________________girls go this way? (any, tall, Chinese)
10. My sister lives in ____________________ house. (old, big, Victorian )
11. There was an ________________________ clock on sale. ( Italian, old, wonderful)
12. There were many papers in that ___________________________ box. (square, big, blue)
13. Those are ________________________________ ornaments. ( plastic, yellow, disgusting)
14. We are going to buy __________________________ trousers. (slim, French, some)
15. There were ___________________________ boys in the bus. (angry, five, fat)

Put the following adjectives in correct order to qualify the noun given

1. I want to buy _______________________ book. ( popular, Spanish, old, interesting)
2. There were _______________________ caps. ( some, red, Italian, rain)
3. In the hall there was an ___________________________ painting. (modern, rectangular, big, Chinese)
4. I have a __________________________ toy.(new, cardboard, flat, beautiful)
5. We bought a _________________________ car. ( racing, red, American, old)
6. The village was _______________________ (large, populated, green, mountainous)
7. The painting was done by a __________________ lady. ( short, elderly, white, French)
8. There ___________________ ladies were fighting for a cause. ( old, friendly, four, Indian)
9. He was a ___________________________singer. ( famous, young, classical, American)
10. We bought some______________________ covers. ( seat, silky, red, costly)
11. I was gifted __________________ bracelet. ( one, thin, costly, emerald)
12. Today I saw a ___________________________ mattress. ( huge, thick, white, cheap)
13. There were ______________________ actors for the function. ( four, famous, female, old)
14. The posters were __________________________( huge, colourful, rectangular, glossy)
15. In Paul’s house there is _____________________ table in the dining room. (beautiful, round, Chinese, wooden)
16. My aunt knitted __________________________ pullover for me. ( red, woollen, nice, new)
17. I can see __________________________ clouds in the sky. ( big, white, round, fluffy)
18. A ________________________________ car was parked in front of the apartment. ( new, shiny, sports, huge)
19. _____________________________ fishwere playing with the children. ( big, blue, friendly, two)
20. The shop had ____________________________ eats. ( crunchy, many, sweet, Italian)