Adjective Order

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun -- for example, "He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. This page will explain the different types of adjectives and the correct order for them.
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The basic types of adjectives
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Opinion
An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). Examples:silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult, polite, fun, hard-working, cute
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Size
A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is.
Size, including adjectives, comparatives and superlatives
·height; e.g. tall, short, high, low; taller, tallest
·width; e.g. wide, narrow, thin, slim; wider, widest
·length; e.g. long, short; longer, longest
·volume; e.g. fat, huge; fatter, fattest
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Age
An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples:ancient, new, young, old, adolescent, teenage, middle-aged
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Shape
A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples:square, round, flat, rectangular, circular, oval,5-sided, hexagonal, irregular
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Color
A color adjective, of course, describes the color of something. Examples:blue, pink, reddish, grey, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, black and white, pale blue, reddish brown, bright green
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Origin
An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples:French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
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Material
A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples:wooden, metal, cotton, paper, ceramic, silver
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Purpose
A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples:sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin")
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Note: Some Grammar Books give the following order for the Adjectives:
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1. Determiner or article
·........Determiners e.g. this, that, these, those, my, mine, your, yours, him, his, her, hers, they,
.........their, Sam's ; or
·....... Articles - a, an, the
2. Opinion adjective e.g. polite, fun, cute, difficult, hard-working
3. Size, including adjectives, comparatives and superlatives
....height; e.g. tall, short, high, low; taller, tallest
....width; e.g. wide, narrow, thin, slim; wider, widest
....length; e.g. long, short; longer, longest
....volume; e.g. fat, huge; fatter, fattest
4. Shape e.g. circular, oval, triangular, square, 5-sided, hexagonal, irregular
5. Age e.g. new, young, adolescent, teenage, middle-aged, old, ancient
6. Color e.g. red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, grey, black, black and white, light
.....blue, dark red, pale blue, reddish brown, off-white, bright green, warm yellow
7. Nationality e.g. Hong Kong, Chinese, English, American, Canadian, Japanese
8. Religion e.g. Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Moslem, pagan, atheist
9. Material e.g. wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, paper, silk
10. Noun used as an adjectivee.g. campus (as in 'campus activities')
11. The noun that the adjectives are describing.
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Sentence structure:
Together the article or determiner, adjective(s) and noun(s) make a 'noun phrase'. Noun phrases can also have adverbs describing the adjectives; e.g. nearly circular; and can also have relative clauses, although these are not discussed on this page.
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Style:
Although it is possible to write a sentence that uses all the categories; e.g. 'my beautiful, long, curving, new, pink, western, Christian, silk wedding dress', it is bad style as it is too long. Try to use less than five adjectives in a single list. Therefore you could say "Have you seen my beautiful new cream silk wedding dress? It's long and curving, and is in western Christian style."
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EXERCISES
1. Which is the correct order?
a small Canadian thin lady
a Canadian small thin lady
a small thin Canadian lady
a thin small Canadian lady
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2. Which is the correct order?
a carving steel new knife
a new steel carving knife
a steel new carving knife
a new carving steel knife
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3. Which is the correct order?
a beautiful blue sailing boat
a blue beautiful sailing boat
a sailing beautiful blue boat
a blue sailing beautiful boat
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4. Which is the correct order?
an old wooden square table
a square wooden old table
an old square wooden table
a wooden old square table
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5. Which is the correct order?
an new French exciting band
a French new exciting band
an exciting French new band
an exciting new French band
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6. Which is the correct order?
a red big plastic hat
a big red plastic hat
a plastic big red hat
a bit plastic red hat
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7. Which is the correct order?
a small Japanese serving bowl
a Japanese small serving bowl
a small serving Japanese bowl
a serving small Japanese bowl
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8. Which is the correct order?
a cotton dirty old tie
a dirty cotton old tie
an old cotton dirty tie
a dirty old cotton tie
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Answers:
1 C
2 B
3 A
4 C
5 D
6 B
7 A
8 D