Order of Adjectives

Although the order of adjectives is not fixed, they usually follow this order:

It is sometimes difficult to decide where to put an adjective. If you aren’t sure, think about where sounds natural, or put it in a new sentence: I bought some expensive, sliced, white bread sounds better than I bought some sliced, expensive, white bread.

Some adjectives may be possible in more than one position: I bought some delicious, wholegrain, brown bread [brown is in the ‘compound’ position] vs I bought some delicious, brown, wholegrain bread [brown is in the ‘colour’ position].

We don’t usually have more than 3 adjectives in a row. We can use ‘with’, ‘that’ ‘and it has’ to add extra information.

Ex: I have a beautiful, new, Gucchi bag with a floral pattern. It has leather straps.

Ex: She has wonderful, large, round, dark brown eyes with long eyelashes.

Ex: It’s a beautiful, small, old-fashioned, rural village that has a population of 1200 people.

Opinion:        cute / nice / amazing / beautiful / cool / terrible / picturesque

Size:               big / small / medium-length / long / about 20cm long / short / sprawling

Quality:         cheap / expensive / smooth / soft / muscular / run-down / old-fashioned

Age:                new / looks old / about 2 years old / fairly young / middle-aged / 300-year-old

Shape:           round / square / rectangular / triangular / oval / straight / curly / wavy

Colour:          brown / blue / navy blue / dark blue / light blue / pale blue / silver and black

Pattern:         plain / check / with (a flower pattern/a design/a picture of a dog/writing)

Origin:           Japanese / Sony / It’s from Daiso / It’s made in Japan / It’s made by Nikon

Material:       plastic / metal / glass / paper / wood / leather / cotton

Compound: tote (bag) / single-seater (car) / electric (oven) / rural (town) / coastal (port)

Extras:           it has a pocket / with a gold necklace / that is popular / that’s made by Sony / who’s from England / that was very industrial in the 1900s.