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NAIA-01 Order of Adjectives LGP-UppInt - 02
 
REFERENCE — Order of Adjectives
When there is more than one adjective preceding a noun, they are generally placed in the following order:
Opinion Size Age Shape Color Origin Material Type Noun
        red Chinese silk   shirt
beautiful   old           house
old-fashioned             handmade doll
  small   square brown       envelope
  heavy antique oval         table
    Notes
  • great big generally goes before any other adjectives:
    a great big lovely old building.
  • When you use more than one adjective from the opinion category, it does not usually matter what order they go in:
    She's a depressed, anxious young woman.
    She's an an anxious, depressed young woman.
    If one of the adjectives is more general, it is likely to come first:
    It was a beautiful, thought-provoking film.
  • We generally only use commas between attributive adjectives when there are two or more adjectives of equal importance describing what something is like. The comma separates the adjectives of equal emphasis. There is often another adjective describing age or type before the noun:
    He's an ignorant, selfish old man.
  • We can also use and to separate two attributive adjectives describing what something is like:
    It is a violent and shocking book.
  • If there are two adjectives of the same type before the noun, we can join them with and. When there are more than two adjectives, we use commas and and before the last adjective. The order of adjectives is usually not important in these cases:
    He is always bright and cheerful.
    The new teacher is committed , enthusiastic and hard-working.
 
 
  Exercise 3A
  Rewrite the sentences, putting the words into the correct order. Do not use contractions.
  If you think there should be a comma, add it in the correct place.
 

 1. 
absolutely / holiday / wonderful / was / the
 

 

 2. 
enormous / they / old / staying / building / grey / are / an / in
 

 

 3. 
and / looks / now / old / he / tired / rather
 

 

 4. 
young / met / student / charming / we / medical / a
 

 

 5. 
angry / an / man / is / young / he / aggressive
 

 

 6. 
heavy / is / a / he / smoker / very
 

 

 7. 
very / has / happy / him / she / made
 

 

 8. 
heavy / her / gold / a / gave / necklace / he / beautiful
 

 

 9. 
close / are / friends / extremely / they
 

 

 10. 
moment / at / rather / seem / the / unhappy / you
 

 

 11. 
thoughtful / a / be / man / young / seems / very / he / to
 

 

 12. 
impractical / is / time-wasting / expensive / the / and / project
 

 

 13. 
beginning / hair / grey / turn / to / is / my
 

 

 14. 
young / actress / a / Diana / successful / well-respected / and / is
 

 

 15. 
fine / am / now / feeling / I
 

 
 

REFERENCE — Construction of adjectives
Participles as adjectives
  • Many present participles and past participles can be used as adjectives:
an exciting trip
a crying child
a torn shirt
 
 a falling tree
a completed manuscript
frozen vegetables
 
  • Many compound adjectives are formed with participles. well + past participle is particularly common:
a well-built house
a time-wasting activity
a fast-selling product
 
 well-cooked meat
handmade dolls
home-grown vegetables
 
 
 
  Exercise 3B
  Complete the sentences with participles as adjectives, using the verbs in the box.
  The verbs with adverbs should be used to form compound adjectives.

  change       act well    break          bring-up well   
  brush well   relax       embarrass   boil
 
 

 0. 
It was a very restful holiday so I feel much more    now.
 
 

 0. 
It was a very    play.
 
 

 16. 
I kept calling her by the wrong name; it was very  
 
 

 17. 
The    kettle filled the kitchen with steam.
 
 

 18. 
She is a very    child: she always behaves herself well.
 
 

 19. 
I think he may have died of a    heart.
 
 

 20. 
Her hair is always very  .
 
 

 21. 
The increase in divorce reflects a    attitude to marriage and relationships.
 
 



 
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