B2 Upper-intermediate Articles, quantifiers, word order, linking, reporting
Adjective order
Lesson goal. After this lesson you can order several adjectives correctly before a noun.
When to use it
- Detailed description in writing: a lovely old wooden table.
- Describing people, objects and places when speaking.
- A frequent word-order exam task.
Form
| Order | Category | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | opinion, judgement | beautiful · lovely · interesting · expensive |
| 2 | size | big · small · long · tall |
| 3 | age | old · new · ancient · young |
| 4 | shape | round · square · flat |
| 5 | colour | red · white · black |
| 6 | origin | Vietnamese · Italian · Japanese |
| 7 | material, purpose | wooden · silk · cotton · drinking (glass) |
Step by step
- List the adjectives you want.
- Sort each one into a category from the table.
- Arrange them by category number, 1 to 7.
- Remember: opinion first, material closest to the noun.
Practical shortcuts
| Shortcut | Explanation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opinion always comes first | People can disagree about it, so it stands furthest from the noun | lovely old table |
| Material always comes last | Material is closely tied to what the thing is | old wooden table |
| Rarely more than three | More than three adjectives sounds very heavy | a nice big old house |
Examples
a beautiful long silk dress
a small black leather bag
an interesting old Vietnamese story
a big round wooden table
an expensive Italian leather jacket
a lovely white cotton shirt
Common mistakes
a red big car → a big red car
Size (group 2) comes before colour (group 5).
a Chinese beautiful vase → a beautiful Chinese vase
Opinion always comes before origin.
a wooden old lovely table → a lovely old wooden table
The order is completely reversed. Vietnamese places adjectives after the noun in a different order, so this is easy to get wrong.
Memory tip
Remember the two ends and you will usually be right: opinion furthest from the noun, material closest to it. The middle rarely causes trouble.
Summary
- Order: opinion – size – age – shape – colour – origin – material.
- Opinion first, material next to the noun.
- In practice, rarely use more than three in a row.
Practise this lesson
Do exercises with an explanation for every question, take mini tests and track your progress on GrammUp.