The Adjective

A. Order of Adjectives
1. Attributive and Predicative

Most adjectives of quality are used in both positions, while other types of adjectives are only
attributive (demonstrative – this, that; distributive – each, either; quantitative – some, no, twenty;
interrogative – whose, what; possessive – my, your etc.); both present and past participles can be
used as adjectives: a tiring play/ a tired teacher; I am bored/boring etc.

Further Observations

1. Besides “be” there are other verbs that require adjectives in a predicative position: become,
seem, feel, smell, sound, taste, turn, make

Ex. The idea sounds interesting. He makes me feel great.

2. Note the difference between the use of these verbs with adjectives or adverbs: He looked calm
(he appeared to be calm) to the crowd./calmly (in a calm way) at the crowd. The soup tasted
horrible. He tasted the soup greedily.

3. Some adjectives are used only attributively or predicatively, or change their meaning when
they change position: bad/good; big/small; heavy/light; old, poor

Ex. He is an old friend of mine./ His father is old.; He is a small farmer. (He has a small farm)/
He is rather small. (physically short); Poor man! This man is quite poor.

Only before the noun: chief, main, principal, sheer, utter etc.

Only after the verb: afraid, upset, alive, one, ashamed, asleep etc.

Exceptions to the attributive use: the people present, the president elect, court martial etc.

2. Generally, when more than one adjective precedes the noun, the order in English is:
1. Quantity or number
2. Quality or opinion
3. Size
4. Age
5. Shape
6. Color
7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
8. Purpose or qualifier (sometimes this category is a gerund or verbal adjective that
forms a compound noun) ex. walking sick/stick for walking; riding boots/ boots for
riding => to be distinguished from the present participle in “a walking dictionary” (an
erudite person); running water (water that runs) etc.
 See also: www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar.../adjectives/order-of-adjectives
Order of adjectives – examples

Quantity Quality Purpose

Determiner or or Size Age Shape Color Origin or NOUN
(Material) qualifier
number opinion
A beautiful old Italian sports car

The three beautiful little golden plates

An heart- red- French dining-

amazing and- room sofa
shaped
white

More 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."

Exercise: Recognize the categories of adjectives:

1. I love that really old big green antique car that always parked at the end of the street. [quality
– age – size – color – proper adjective]
2. My sister has a big, beautiful, tan and white, bulldog. [size – quality – color – color]
3. A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion – age – origin]
4. A big square blue box. [dimension – shape – color]
5. A disgusting pink plastic ornament. [opinion – color – material]
6. Some slim new French trousers. [dimension – age – origin]
7. A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion – age – origin]
8. I bought a pair of black leather shoes. [color – material]

OBS 1: When there are two or more adjectives that are from the same group, the word and is
placed between the two adjectives:

1. The house is green and red.

2. The library has old and new books
 OBS 2: When there are three or more adjectives from the same adjective group, place a comma
between each of the coordinate adjectives:

1. We live in the big green, white and red house at the end of the street.
2. My friend lost a red, black and white watch.

OBS 3: A comma is not placed between an adjective and the noun.

OBS 4: Sometimes, adjectives of personality come after adjectives of physical description
Ex. A small suspicious official, a pale anxious girl, an inquisitive brown dog, a long patient
queue etc.
OBS 5: Since adjectives such as little, old and young are often used as part of an adjective-noun
combination, they are then placed next to their nouns; but when they are used to convey
information they occupy position 4 (age)
Ex. A nice little boy, an irritable old lady, an angry young man etc. versus: a young colored man;
an old Welsh writer, a little grey cat etc.
OBS 6: the adjective “pretty” precedes the adjectival phrase only when it means “very”
Ex. A pretty cool movie but a cool pretty girl

B. The Irregular Comparison

Good – better – the best

Bad – worse – the worst
Far – farther – farthest/ further – furthest (ex. Further supplies/debate/ demands; near/middle
east/ far north etc.)
Little – less – the least (ex. The least I can do is…)
Many/much – more – the most
Old – elder/older – eldest/the oldest

Constructions with the comparative: Not so+adj+as/Not as+adj+as;

the+comparative+the+comparative; continuous tense+comparative and comparative
Ex. He is not so smart as her. The sooner, the better. It is getting colder and colder.
C. Other structures

- “the”+ adjective => category/class (the rich, the poor, the beautiful etc.)
- adj+inf: impossible to study; hard to find; brave of you to talk like this; how intelligent of him
to do this; such a wicked thing to say; necessary for him to leave; better not to have known him;
it is awful/boring/terrible to do/say such a thing; he is lucky to be alive, etc.
-adj+that-clause: it’s good/luck/unlucky that
- aware/conscious+that/of: I’m aware that you can help. I am conscious of the problem.