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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Order of adjectives
Order of adjectives
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Jorgelinaac
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Order of adjectives
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Hi everybody, I have a question as regards the order of adjectives. When two adjectives fall under the same category, which one goes first, the shorter one? Is there a rule? For example:
* A horrible greedy businessman
* A spoilt nasty little boy
* A gorgeous black-haired green-eyed girl
* Their house was big and tidy or tidy and big? I don �t know how to classiffy "tidy"!!!
Thanks, have a nice weekend!
Jorgelina |
18 Aug 2012
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cindyfreksen
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I think that there are rules about which order they should be in, but Ihave no idea what they are. As far as your examples go I would change some of them:
A horrible greedy businessman - a greedy, horrible businessman
* A spoilt nasty little boy- A nasty, spoilt, little boy
* A gorgeous black-haired green-eyed girl - this one I wouldn �t change, but they could be in any order if you ask me. although Gorgeous has to be eith first or last - unless her eyes are gorgeous -
* Their house was big and tidy or tidy and big? I think I would say big and tidy - it was a big, tidy house as opposed to a small, untidy one.
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18 Aug 2012
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COLOMBO
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The proper order of adjectives is listed below along with some examples for each category.
Determiners � a, an, the, my, your, several, etc.
Observations � lovely, boring, stimulating, etc.
Size � tiny, small, huge, etc.
Shape � round, square, rectangular, etc.
Age � old, new, ancient, etc.
Color � red, blue, green, etc.
Origin � British, American, Mexican, etc.
Material � gold, copper, silk, etc.
Qualifier � limiters for compound nouns.
Here are some examples:
"The interesting, small, rectangular, blue car is parked in my space."
"I bought a beautiful, long, red, Italian, silk tie."
"My father lives in a lovely, gigantic, ancient, brick house."
"I have an annoying, small, circular, American, tin, alarm clock that wakes me up."
"Let�s order a delicious, huge, rectangular, pepperoni pizza."
"We all love our smart, petite, British teacher."
"They all received several dazzling, small, ancient, gold coins."
"She owns a stunning, large, old, brown dog named Boris."
http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/adjective-word-order |
18 Aug 2012
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katarinkam.
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I �d like to thank Pinky Makus very much for the links above - at least two of them can solve much more than the "adjective-order issue" :). Thanks a lot. |
18 Aug 2012
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ELOJOLIE274
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the rule is usually from the less objective to the more objective
ex: a funny black cat ("funny" is considered as less objective because it depends on the point of view of the person who speaks, while "black" won �t change even if the speaker changes)
ex: a big tidy house ("big" it can depend on the point of view of the speaker, "tidy" = it is either tidy or not hence it �s more objective...)
see what I mean? but it also means that the writer can change the order of the adjectives if he wants to stress their objectivity/subjectivity...
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18 Aug 2012
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ueslteacher
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You see, Elodie, horrible and greedy are both opinion adjectives (as opposed to fact adjectives or as you said subjective vs objective) and so are nasty and spoilt, likewise black-haired and green-eyed could be both classified as describing colour, i.e. fact adjectives, and that is exactly what Jorgelina finds confusing: how to position two adjectives which fall under the SAME category?
So, any advice from the native speakers on that part?
Sophia
P.S. I myself am curious to know. |
18 Aug 2012
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cunliffe
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Well, I �m a native speaker, but I �ve learned something! Thank you Colombo - very clear rules - and others. I must say order of adjectives isn �t something I �ve taught, which is a good thing, as I didn �t know there were any rules! I just go with �what sounds right � and I agree with cindyfreksen, including putting in the commas. |
19 Aug 2012
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naky72
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Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun: | good | bad | lovely | strange | | beautiful | nice | brilliant | excellent | | awful | important | wonderful | nasty |
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun: Food: tasty; delicious
Furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable
People, animals: 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 http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/adjectives/order-adjectives
According to the table above nasty is a general opinion that �s why A nasty spoilt little boy is correct. Horrible means bad that �s why it is a general opinion(in the table) and greedy is a specific opinion? so A horrible greedy businessman is correct. I think tidy is an opinion and big is a size, that �s why Their house was tidy and big is correct. A gorgeous black-haired green-eyed girl is correct because of the following diagram which is used for describing people: name/age/build/height/hair colour/hairstyle/face/eyes/complexion/distinguishing features/dress/personality Am I right?
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19 Aug 2012
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