Level: intermediate
Two adjectives
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
a handsome young man
a big black car
that horrible big dog
Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:
| good bad lovely strange |
nice beautiful brilliant excellent |
awful important wonderful nasty |
He's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful teacher.
That's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful book.
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun, for example:
| Food | Furniture, buildings | People, animals |
|---|---|---|
| delicious tasty |
comfortable uncomfortable |
clever intelligent friendly |
We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:
nice tasty soup
a nasty uncomfortable armchair
a lovely intelligent animal
We usually put an opinion adjective in front of a descriptive adjective:
a nice red dress
a silly old man
those horrible yellow curtains
- Order of adjectives 1
- Order of adjectives 2
Adjectives after link verbs
We use some adjectives only after a link verb:
| afraid alive alone asleep content glad |
ill ready sorry sure unable well |
Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
| annoyed bored finished pleased thrilled |
We say:
Our teacher was ill.
My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed.
but we do not say:
We had
an ill teacher.
When he heard the news he wasa very glad uncle.
He seemed to bea very annoyed policeman.
- Order of adjectives 3
Level: advanced
Three or more adjectives
Sometimes we have three adjectives in front of a noun, but this is unusual:
a nice handsome young man
a big black American car
that horrible big fierce dog
It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General opinion | Specific opinion | Size | Shape | Age | Colour | Nationality | Material |
- Order of adjectives 4
Adjectives in front of nouns
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
|
north |
northern southern eastern western |
countless occasional lone mere |
indoor outdoor |
We say:
He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new machinery.
but we do not say:
The district he lives in is eastern.The problems with the new machinery were countless.
Comments
Hi! That's very helpful thanks!!! But I have one question: there are some adjectives which match with none of this categories. For example "horizontal". Where should I put them?
Hello
Would you please tell me if this sentence is grammatically correct or not?
" They are newly graduated students."
Is the use of "graduated" here as an adjective right?
PS:
MY POINT OF VIEW
the verb "graduate" is either a transitive or an intransitive verb.
We know that transitive verbs can be used in the pasive voice.
In OXFORD dictionary, sense number 3 you can find this example:
The college graduated 50 students last year.
If we change it into the passive form it will read:
50 students were graduated last year.
The word graduated here may act as an adjective. We can use the past participle as an adjective.
Am I right????
Hello Mr Ahmed Adel,
Yes, that is a grammatically correct sentence. 'newly' is an adverb and 'graduated' is an adjective. Many adjectives are essentially past (or present) participles that get used as adjectives, but not all past participles can be used as adjectives.
Your argument about using the transitive verb 'graduate' in the passive voice is sound, but I don't think you'd ever see that in writing or hear it in speaking.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
As a native English speaker I have to say almost all or those crossed out sentences are perfectly valid; they might convey a different tone or register but most are definitely constructions I would employ.
Hello Purple_Pixie,
I think it is someting of a sliding scale from odd-sounding to highly unnatural, so I take your point. However, I think it's useful to clarify for learners which forms sound natural and which do not.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear teacher, I'd like to ask you.
Which one is correct?
A terrifying big black dog, or
A big terrifying black dog.
Thanks in advance.
Hello Renita,
The first version (...terrifying big...) is correct. We put opinion before size.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello teacher,
in this lesson, i see the list (1) : Opinion-Size-Shape-Age-...
But in orther source,
i see them use the list (2) : Opinion - Size - Age - Shape-...
(1) is correct and (2) is wrong or we can use both of them. Thank you :D !
Hello Jack,
To be honest, the order of adjectives is only partially fixed. Opinion is always first and origin and material come last. Between those, there is some flexibility. It's often a question of convention and how something sounds rather than fixed rules.
For example, I think both of these sentences sound fine:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello teacher, I would like to ask:
When search dictionary, leather, cotton is noun.
So in " a leather jacket " . Leather is adjective or noun ?
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