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.
Hello David Araque,
We generally do not provide answers to questions that are from elsewhere (other sites, books or tests) as we cannot become an answering service for people's homework! However, I can give you a clue which should help you. The clue is that the word teacher's here refers to only one teacher and so the word two must refer to classes, which is the only plural noun. That should help you as it is clear what the other adjectives can describe.
If you try to answer it yourself we will tell you if you have it right or not.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello David,
Yes, that sounds right to me and as far as I can see is the only correct answer.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team