Order of Adjective

Adjectives are words that we use to describe a noun. They go before the noun that they are describing or after verbs such as be, look, sound, feel, smell, appear, etc.

Example

We’ve bought a car.

You look beautiful today.

We can use more than one adjective to qualify a noun. In this case, we use them in the following order, according to what they are expressing.

Example

A big round wooden kitchen table.

A fantastic new brown leather jacket.

A beautiful old Chinese vase.

Proper Order of Adjective

a/an	opinion	size	age	shape	colour	origin	material	purpose	noun
a		big		round			wooden	kitchen	table
a	fantastic		new		brown		leather		jacket
a	beautiful		old			Chinese			vase

Order of Adjective Exercises

A. Put the adjectives in the correct order.

1. a T-shirt – cotton, new, grey _______________________________________________________________________________
2. a necklace – gold, fantastic, new _______________________________________________________________________________
3. a(n) scarf – silk, Chinese, inexpensive _______________________________________________________________________________
4. hair – straight, short, golden _______________________________________________________________________________
5. a frame – picture, glass, square _______________________________________________________________________________
6. a(n) bike- modern, sports, Italian _______________________________________________________________________________
7. a(n) chair – antique, French, valuable _______________________________________________________________________________
8. a box – cardboard, small, black _______________________________________________________________________________

B. Put the words in the correct order.

1. I/ went / yesterday / by car/ to work _______________________________________________________________________________
2. He / did / very quickly / last night / his homework _______________________________________________________________________________
3. James / is / at this time of day / at the gym /usually _______________________________________________________________________________
4. Ali / played / very well / last night / at the concert _______________________________________________________________________________
5. She / has been working / all evening / hard / in her garden _______________________________________________________________________________
6. They / meet / always / in the park / on Sunday mornings _______________________________________________________________________________
7. She / waited / patiently / for hours / at the station _______________________________________________________________________________
8. I / get up / in the morning / usually / early _______________________________________________________________________________

C. Put the words in brackets in the correct place.

1. She speaks French. (fluently) _______________________________________________________________________________
2. I’ll be waiting for you. (tomorrow) _______________________________________________________________________________
3. I’ve been here before. (never) _______________________________________________________________________________
4. I felt tired this morning. (extremely) _______________________________________________________________________________
5. John and Susan are married. (happily) _______________________________________________________________________________
6. Wayne likes his job. (really) _______________________________________________________________________________
7. I go out on Sundays. (hardly ever) _______________________________________________________________________________
8. She drank her coffee. (quickly) _______________________________________________________________________________
9. Amna is complaining about something. (always) _______________________________________________________________________________
10. I’ve finished painting my room. (almost) _______________________________________________________________________________

D. Choose adjectives below that answer the questions in the blanks to complete the paragraph.

As I started out, the day already seemed ————- (14. what kind?). A ———– (15. what kind?) sun was just rising over the ————- (16. which one?)  hill. Traces of ———– (17. how much?) ———— (18. what kind?) fog lingered around the ———– (19. which one?) path. A ———— (20. what kind?) breeze stirred the ———– (21. what kind?) trees and clouds tumbled together like ———– (22. how many?) ———– (23. what kind?) creatures.

E. The underlined words below are overused adjectives. Rewrite the sentences using more specific and descriptive adjectives.

24. Garden may be nice place for flowers to grow. _______________________________________________________________________________

25. Yet I think flowers that bloom in the wilderness are fine. _______________________________________________________________________________

26. The sun warms the blossoms on this fine day. _______________________________________________________________________________

27. What a good time this is to watch the birds soar! _______________________________________________________________________________

28. Wouldn’t it be a nice way to travel? _______________________________________________________________________________

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