Adjective Order
We can use more than one adjective before a noun in English – although it is very unusual to use more then three. The
order in which we place the adjectives depends on the categories the adjective belong. Check the sentence below.
In the kitchen there was a beautiful large round wooden table
1 2 3 4
Adjectives like large, round and wooden are fact adjectives. They give us factual information about size, shape,
material, color, age, etc.
Adjectives like beautiful, nice are opinion, evaluation or quality adjectives. They tell us what someone’s opinion about
something or somebody is.
Opinion adjectives usually go before fact adjectives. Sometimes we use two or more fact adjectives together. If that
happens we should place them in this order:
Weight Tempera Purpose
Opinion Size Age Shape Color Origin Material NOUN
ture or Type
beautiful, vase,
nice, tiny, big, heavy, ancient, white, blouse,
cold, hot oval, Chinese, wooden, sleeping,
lovely, small light, thin old, new reddish table
square plastic baseball
awful
When there are more then two adjectives together we use commas after the two first ones but not after the third.
But if there are only two the commas are optional.
Large, square, wooden boxes
Large square boxes
When two of the adjectives belong to the same category you must use AND to connect them.
A blue and white cotton shirt
When the noun doesn’t follow the adjective AND has to be used before the last one.
The house was dark and cold
He looked cold, exhausted and hungry
The normal order of adjectives is sometimes not followed when you want to focus on a particular characteristic.
It was a wooden black chair
Practice
I - Complete the sentences using the adjectives in brackets in the correct order
1) She was wearing a ____________ ____________ ____________ dress.
(long, beautiful, green)
2) The guy had ____________ ____________ ____________ hair.
(gray, spiky, long)
3) She had this ____________ ____________ ____________ coat on.
(black, long, woolen)
4) The rapper wore a ____________ ____________ ____________ cap.
(brown and red, baseball, ridiculous)
5) I love these ____________ ____________ ____________ shorts.
(old, denim, blue and white)
II – Number the correct order of the adjectives in each sentence.
1) My mother used to bake little/delicious/carrot cakes.
2) The bride was beautiful. She was wearing a really white/silk/long dress.
3) Did I tell you I met this French/gorgeous/blond guy at a party?
4) I love telling white/little/silly lies every now and then.
5) There was this amazing/big/stone cottage near the beach.
6) My boyfriend would never buy me these silver/horrible/tiny earrings.
III – In four of the following sentences the adjectives are not in the correct order. Find the
incorrect sentences and make the necessary corrections.
1) I found a shiny new gold coin on the ground.
2) My kids wanted me to buy new computer exciting games for them.
3) My friend gave her sister a handmade flower glass vase for her birthday.
4) A promising, modern Japanese restaurant has just opened in town.
5) They live in a three-storey Georgian stunning mansion.
IV – Write the following adjectives in the correct order.
1) A black large paper
2) A wonderful Victorian old city
3) An English young girl
4) A warm small beach
5) A small red table
6) A small round golden coin
7) An Italian cheap beautiful car
8) A cold beautiful country
9) A small old bath towel
V- Fill in the blanks with AND if necessary or X when it is not necessary.
1) I love your blue ________ white pullover.
2) His trousers are navy ________ blue.
3) He looked cold, exhausted _________ hungry.
4) That is a metal _________ glass building.
5) Let’s have a nice _________ little chat.
6) The house was big __________ beautiful.
Practice
I - Complete the sentences using the adjectives in brackets in the correct order
1) She was wearing a ____________ ____________ ____________ dress.
(long, beautiful, green)
2) The guy had ____________ ____________ ____________ hair.
(gray, spiky, long)
3) She had this ____________ ____________ ____________ coat on.
(black, long, woolen)
4) The rapper wore a ____________ ____________ ____________ cap.
(brown and red, baseball, ridiculous)
5) I love these ____________ ____________ ____________ shorts.
(old, denim, blue and white)
II – Number the correct order of the adjectives in each sentence.
1) My mother used to bake little/delicious/carrot cakes. 2 1 3
2) The bride was beautiful. She was wearing a really white/silk/long dress. 2 3 1
3) Did I tell you I met this French/gorgeous/blond guy at a party? 3 1 2
4) I love telling white/little/silly lies every now and then. 3 2 1
5) There was this amazing/big/stone cottage near the beach. 1 2 3
6) My boyfriend would never buy me these silver/horrible/tiny earrings. 3 1 2
III – In three of the following sentences the adjectives are not in the correct order. Find
the incorrect sentences and make the necessary corrections.
1) I found a shiny new gold coin on the ground.
2) My kids wanted me to buy exciting, new, computer games for them.
3) My friend gave her sister a handmade glass flower vase for her birthday.
4) A promising, modern Japanese restaurant has just opened in town.
5) They live in a stunning, three-storey, Georgian mansion.
IV – Write the following adjectives in the correct order.
1) A black large paper
2) A wonderful Victorian old city
3) An English young girl
4) A warm small beach
5) A small red table
6) A small round golden coin
7) An Italian cheap beautiful car
8) A cold beautiful country
9) A small old bath towel
V- Fill in the blanks with AND if necessary or X when it is not necessary.
1) I love your blue AND white pullover.
2) His trousers are navy X blue.
3) He looked cold, exhausted AND hungry.
4) That is a metal AND glass building.
5) Let’s have a nice X little chat.
6) The house was big AND beautiful.
