Order of Adjectives in a Series

Order of Adjectives in a Series :

It would take a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say "little brown house" and not "brown little house" or why we say
"red Italian sports car" and not "Italian red sports car." The order in which adjectives in a series sort themselves out is
perplexing for people learning English as a second language. Most other languages dictate a similar order, but not
necessarily the same order. It takes a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the
order often seems quite arbitrary (if not downright capricious). There is, however, a pattern. You will find many exceptions
to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the pattern of adjective order if it is not part of what
you naturally bring to the language.

The categories in the following table can be described as follows:

I. Determiners — articles and other limiters. See Determiners

II. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject
to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
III. Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
IV. Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
V. Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
VI. Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)
VII. Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
VIII. Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car,
book cover)

Order of Adjectives in a Series

Determiner Observation Physical Description Origin Material Qualifier Noun

Size Shape Age Color

a beautiful old Italian touring car

an expensive antique silver mirror

long-
four gorgeous red silk roses
stemmed

her short black hair

our big old English sheepdog

those square wooden hat boxes

that dilapidated little hunting cabin

several enormous young American basketball players

some delicious Thai food

It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together. Furthermore, when adjectives
belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated adjectives, and you will want to put a comma between
them: the inexpensive, comfortable shoes. The rule for inserting the comma works this way: if you could have inserted a
conjunction — and or but — between the two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are "inexpensive but
comfortable shoes," so we would use a comma between them (when the "but" isn't there). When you have three
coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma between the last adjective and the noun
(in spite of the temptation to do so because you often pause there):

a popular, respected, and good looking student

A clause modifier is simply a clause that modifies something. A clause is a sentence with at least a subject and a verb, for
instance "I went to school". Now if we want to turn this clause into a modifier, we simply let it modify the meaning of
something, for instance the phrase "I had breakfast":

I had breakfast before I went to school.

The Modifier

Recognize a modifier when you see one.

Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in sentences. Modifiers allow writers to take the picture
that they have in their heads and transfer it accurately to the heads of their readers. Essentially, modifiers breathe life into
sentences. Take a look at this "dead" sentence:

Stephen dropped his fork.

Now read what several well placed modifiers can do:

Poor Stephen, who just wanted a quick meal to get through his three-hour biology lab, quickly dropped his fork on the
cafeteria tray, gagging with disgust as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet, a sight requiring a year of therapy
before Stephen could eat eggs again.

Modifiers can be adjectives, adjective clauses, adverbs, adverb clauses, absolute phrases, infinitive phrases, participle
phrases, and prepositional phrases. The sentence above contains at least one example of each:

Adjective = poor.

Adjective clause = who just wanted a quick meal.

Adverb = quickly.

Adverb clause = as a tarantula wiggled out of his cheese omelet.

Absolute phrase = a sight requiring a year of therapy before Stephen could eat eggs again.

Infinitive phrase = to get through his three-hour biology lab.

Participle phrase = gagging with disgust.

Prepositional phrase = on the cafeteria tray.

Without modifiers, sentences would be no fun to read. Carefully chosen, well-placed modifiers allow you to depict
situations with as much accuracy as words will allow.

 Modify verbs with adverb clauses that tell when, where, why and under what conditions. For example, "After she had
studied for her math test, she went to the movies." "She left the party early because she was exhausted." These examples
explain when she went to the movies and why she left the party early.

 Step 2

Look at more examples. "He hiked all the way to the top of the mountain, although he dislikes fresh air." This example
explains under what conditions he hiked. "Wherever he roamed during his travels, he took care to keep an open mind."
This clause tells where he took care to keep an open mind.

 Step 3
Notice that a comma separates the adverb clause from the rest of the sentence when an adverb clause begins or breaks
into the middle of the sentence. Adverb clauses may be found at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of sentences.
Usually, you'll write them at the beginning or at the end.

 Step 4

Create an adverb clause by including both a subject and a verb in the clause. If the subject is missing but a verb or a
preposition is present, then you have an adverb phrase, as in "After studying, she went to the movies," or "During his
travels, he kept an open mind."

Putting adjectives in a natural sounding order:

• opinion (evaluation)
• appearance (size, shape, condition) A pretty, little, purple-and-pink paisley
adj order
• age pussycat
• color

• origin (geo, material)

Number modifiers: changing numbers (nouns) to modifiers:

The ladder had six
steps.
number adj
• rephrasing
It was a six-step ladder.

• using hyphens

Noun modifiers: changing nouns to modifiers

The Jeep has a drive(-train) that moves all four
noun wheels.
adj • rephrasing
It has four-wheel drive.
• using hyphens

Adjectives for expressing quantity:

Do you want fewer lines and wrinkles on your face?
fewer less fewer lines
• fewer w/count nouns less wrinkling

• less w/non-count nouns

participial adj1 The act was entertaining. (present participial

Participial adjectives: source vs. adjective)
 receiver

• source of emotion: -ing ending We were entertained. (past participial adjective)

• receiver of emotion: -ed ending

Located in Passive Practices

Participial adjectives: ongoing vs.

completed

• ongoing process: -ing ending a roasting chicken - still cooking! (present participial
adjective)
• completed process: -ed ending
participial
adj2

a roasted chicken - done! (past participial adjective)

Located in Passive Practices

Participial adjectives quiz – auto-

correcting quiz
I was surprised to see how much the neighborhood had changed.
(past participial adjective)
• source: -ing ending It was surprising to see how much the neighborhood had
Partcpl Adj • receiver: -ed ending changed. (present participial adjective)
Quiz
• ongoing process: -ing
ending We saw broken windows. (past participial adjective)
We heard breaking news. (present participial adjective)
• completed process: -ed
ending

Modifying Phrases & Clauses

Using a that-clause to modify a noun

The car that is very small is economical to drive.

that adj • the main sentence - the independent The car that I want to buy is economical to
cl clause drive.
• a modifying phrase - the dependent clause

Located in Noun Clause Practices

 Changing modifying clauses to 1) The government forces (that surrounded) surrounding the island
modifying phrases: forced the Native Americans to leave.

particpl 2) Alcatraz Island, (that was) surrounded by fog, was a depressing

phr2 • present participle clauses place to be imprisoned.
• past participle clauses

Located in Passive Practices