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Adjective Word Order- Rules and exercises for intermediate level

Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Example of adjective word order: an interesting, old book. Example of adjective word order: an interesting, old book. This image by unsplash.com is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license

An overview of the adjectives word order which explains what rules you need to follow when using adjectives in English with examples and exercises to help you learn. This online lesson in English grammar is designed for intermediate level studens.

 In the elementary lesson of 'Adjectives' we looked at the basic adjective types and the word order of adjectives. In the intermediate lesson we build on these foundations by revising the basics of the the elementary level and studying the use of more advanced adjective word orders with printable exercises.

Adjective word order

We will often use more than one adjective to describe a noun:

  • an interesting, old book
  • long, blond hair

Adjectives word order - main groups:

  1. Adjectives of opinion – what we think about something (nice, interesting, boring, ugly)
  2. Adjectives of fact – factual information about size, colour, age etc.

Adjective word order: be careful!

When using adjectives, we follow a particular order. Usually, adjectives of opinion come before adjectives of fact: a beautiful, young woman.

There are many different categories of fact adjectives. Some of the most common of these are:

  1. Size
  2. Age
  3. Colour
  4. Origin
  5. Material

Form of adjective word order:

If we wanted to make a sentence using all of these adjectives, they would take the following order:

opinion size age colour origin material noun

e.g. I bought a beautiful, big, new, black, Italian, leather handbag.

Here are a few more examples:

  • I slept in an enormous, old, Victorian bed.
  • It was a small, modern, red, brick house.
  • He had an exciting, new business idea.
  • I saw the most magnificent, old, French, marble statue.
  • He wore a pair of ugly, old, brown, rubber sandals.

 

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Last modified on Sunday, 05 February 2017 22:44

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