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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Adjective order    

Adjective order



AdamoEnzo
Italy

Adjective order
 
Dear colleagues,
Is there any course about adjective order in a sentence?
I would like to ask about this sentences please.
which one is correct and why please:

She �s got long curly blond hair

She �s got long blond curly hair

She �s got curly long blond hair

She �s got curly blond long hair

She �s got blond long curly hair

She �s got blond curly long hair

thanks a lot.

24 Oct 2013      





maceman
Canada

Hello
You may find this exercise helpful
Have a great day.

24 Oct 2013     



ueslteacher
Ukraine

Definitely without the article:
She �s got long curly blonde hair.
Unless you are describing this 
Smile
Have a look at the older posts here. Some useful tips and info there.

24 Oct 2013     



Mariethe House
France

@Sophia : LOL

However, I would say: long blonde curly hair. What do natives think?

24 Oct 2013     



mfraczek
France

I would say : she �s got long curly blond hair (Size - shape - colour). 

24 Oct 2013     



amyh984
United States

Hi!
When speaking in conversation, there is no special order. Any of the combinations are acceptable and understandable. The only thing missing in writing is a comma. In English grammar, adjectives are separated by a comma when more than one is listed in a row. You also would not say "She �s got..." That is informal and incorrect grammar. You would say, "She has...".  The sentence in total should look like this: (again, order is not important) "She has long, curly, blonde hair." Hope that �s helpful!
Amy

24 Oct 2013     



Apodo
Australia

@amyh984

"She �s got..." That is informal and incorrect grammar

She �s got   is perfectly correct in British English, even though it may be not commonly used in US English. US English uses more commas than British English, and there is an accepted order of adjectives as mentioned above by others. 

24 Oct 2013     



MoodyMoody
United States

"She �s got long curly blonde hair" sounds fine to me as an American English speaker. Of course, amyh984 and I probably speak different dialects of American English. As ESL teachers, we need to teach both formal and informal English.

24 Oct 2013     



Jawful
Japan

Long curly blonde is how I �d say it naturally. If you don �t say long first, it �s weird and sounds like you �re thinking out loud. Curly and blonde have a bit more flexibility but color is almost always last in order. 

A blue big elephant vs a big blue elephant. 

Straight brown hair vs brown straight hair.

Color last feels the most natural for me to say. 


Three adjectives is more than usually said tho so it all comes down to what order the speaker is thinking I �d argue. 

24 Oct 2013     



douglas
United States

I agree with Apodo and Moody.

She �s got long curly blond hair

Note to Amy (please don�t take this as rude, it�s not meant that way): the more you are active here, you will find that there is more than one form of "proper" English.  So I�ve learned to be careful with statements about English that shut-out any possible exceptions/differences. 

25 Oct 2013     



FrauSue
France

I �m a native UK English speaker, and "She �s got long, blonde, curly hair" sounds absolutely fine to me too, and is what I would pick naturally as the best answer. But I know the "order of adjectives" rules seem to put colour last, so I did the Google test!

a) "long curly blond hair": 278,000 results
b) "long curly blonde hair": 1,050,000 results
c) "long blond curly hair": 512,000 results
d) "long blonde curly hair": 527,000 results

So it seems that the most common formulation is b), but all the others are used too. 

25 Oct 2013     

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