Order of Adjectives
Exercise 1. Put the adjectives in the correct order to describe the musical instruments.
1) a / old / yellow / big / contrabass
2) a / new / yellow and brown / electric guitar
3) a / golden / big / saxophone
4) new / big / drums
5) a / old / big / black piano
Exercise 2. Divide the following adjectives into groups according to their meaning:
Bad, zigzag, round, Floridian, youthful, big, teenage, red, black, concrete, free, great, cotton, flat, antique, brown, international, large, oceanic, ceramic, dance, spherical, transparent, local, Irish, sleeping, military, political, French, recent, triangular, swinging, strong, white, young, glass, Spanish, wooden, ancient, walking, small, racing, mature, yellowish, infantile, Australian, blue, fabric, straight, cooking, plastic, equatorial, leather, old-fashioned, metal, tiny, steel, circular, square, huge, oval, pink, little, orange, northern, polar, American, work
General characterization (opinion): ____________________________
Size: _____________________________________________
Age: _____________________________________________
Shape: ___________________________________________
Colour: ____________________________________________
Purpose: __________________________________________
Origin: ____________________________________________
Material: __________________________________________
Exercise 3. Put the following words into the correct order:
1) suede / French / blue / soft / shoes
2) young / tall / Englishman
3) oval / Venetian / antique / valuable / glass
4) expensive / shiny / large / yellow / leather / case
5) oval / wooden / modern / nice / table
6) large / stone / beautiful / cottage
7) porcelain / tea / blue / thin / cup
tall / handsome / young / blonde / man
9) English / old / several / beautiful / castles
10) young / pretty / a lot of / French / girls
11) dark blue / best / silk / my / shirt
Do you say handsome, young, three men, or three handsome young men? Adjectives are more challenging than we think because we have to consider their order in sentences. This guide will show you the correct order of adjectives in the English language.
I provided a three-part test to help you practice your understanding of adjective order. Then, check your answer using the answer key.
Order of Adjectives
Sometimes we can use more than one suitable adjective to describe nouns, but it’s important to know what order to list them in. Follow this order when forming phrases or sentences with multiple adjectives and a noun or any noun equivalent.
1. Determiner (e.g., the, some, a, an, these, etc.)
2. Quantity (e.g., One, seven, few, etc.)
3. Opinion (e.g., delicious, intelligent, misunderstood, important, etc.)
- General opinion, which is held by many (e.g., popular)
- Specific opinion, which is personal (e.g., person)
4. Size (e.g., medium, small, huge, enormous, tall, etc.)
5. Age (e.g., new, old, second-newest, etc.)
6. Shape (e.g., round, geometric, square, etc.)
7. Color (e.g., red, yellowish, gray, etc.)
8. Origin/Material (e.g., American, wooden, leather, etc.)
9. Qualifier (e.g., hound dog, leather jacket, pickup truck, etc.)
Here are some examples.
- Three trendy, stylish, nylon bags
- Tall, black gorilla
- Amazing, little, decades-old cup
- A savory, old, Italian recipe
Order of Adjectives Exercise #2
Order of Adjectives Exercise #2
Choose the correct order of adjectives.
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
Twelve interesting, old, science fiction Wells books
old, science fiction, interesting, twelve, Wells books
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
French, old, writing desk
old, French writing desk
A red checkered shirt
A checkered, red shirt
A red checkered shirt
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
Some spicy Mediterranean food
Mediterranean, spicy, some, food
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
Three blue, metal tables
Blue, three metal tables
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
Young ten kids
Ten young kids
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
A dozen of round, green, Granny Smith apples
Green, a, Granny Smith, dozen apples
Which is correct in order of adjectives?
Small tea twelve bags
Twelve small tea bags
Order of Adjectives Exercise #3
Order of Adjectives Exercise #3
Put the adjectives in the correct order to complete the sentences.
Example: I bought a ________ (cotton, sun, short, green) dress for the wedding.
Answer: short green cotton sun
The glasses cost _____________________ (ten, US) dollars.
They borrowed _____________________ (my, evening, silk, black and white) dress.
She got me _____________________ (a, leather, stylish, brown) jacket.
We watched _____________________ (the, French, boring) film.
Our dog is _____________________ (a brown, big, scary, German) shepherd.
I bought _____________________ (white gold, two, old, beautiful) necklaces.
The lady is wearing _____________________ (yellow, long, a) dress.
Final Thoughts
My handy guide has shown you the correct sequence of adjectives when writing sentences. Learning this topic will help you become more descriptive in your writing. For instance, instead of only saying big truck, you can say big white pickup truck.
Don’t forget to answer the worksheets. Then, after taking each quiz, check your answers with the answer key.
Эти не сложные тесты помогут вам проверить или закрепить материал на расположение английских прилагательных в предложении. Ко всем заданиям прилагаются ответы.
Упражнение # 1
Поставьте прилагательные в предложении в правильном порядке.
a) I have a ………….. dog. /and white, beautiful, big, tan /
b) We bought a ……….. table. / glass nice /
c) This is a …………. book. / fascinating little/
d) We saw an …………. movie on animals. / interesting new/
e) She is looking for ……… bag. / black leather stylish/
f) There are some ……… students in the class. /American new/
g) It was a day. / cold beautiful/
Правильные ответы к упражнению # 1
a) I have a big, beautiful, tan and white, dog.
b) We bought a nice glass table.
c) This is a fascinating little book.
e) We saw an interesting new movie on animals.
f) She is looking for a stylish black leather bag.
g) There are some new American students in the class.
h) It was a beautiful cold day.
Упражнение # 2
Какой из этих вариантов правильный, а какой — нет?
A blue big box.
A blue red box.
A large and white house.
A white and large house.
A silk new comfortable dress.
A comfortable new silk dress.
A kind old woman.
An old kind woman.
A sunny lovely day.
A lovely sunny day.
A delicious Russian meal.
A Russian delicious meal.
An old brick big house.
A big old brick house.
Beautiful little flowers.
Little beautiful flowers.
A brown round kitchen table.
A kitchen brown round table.
A cute Russian young girl.
A Russian young cute girl.
Правильные ответы к упражнению # 2
A blue big box. ✘
A blue red box. ✔
A large and white house. ✔
A white and large house. ✘
A silk new comfortable dress. ✘
A comfortable new silk dress. ✔
A kind old woman. ✔
An old kind woman. ✘
A sunny lovely day. ✘
A lovely sunny day. ✔
A delicious Russian meal. ✔
A Russian delicious meal. ✘
A big old brick house. ✔
An old brick big house. ✘
Beautiful little flowers. ✔
A brown round kitchen table. ✔
A Russian young cute girl. ✘
A cute young Russian girl. ✔
Упражнение # 3
Найдите ошибки
1) A tiny glass cup.
2) Small six plastic round tables.
3) A new swimming huge pool.
4) White old awful shoes.
5) A new black BMW.
6) An electronic new guitar.
7) 3-year-old flashy Italian car.
A black small cat.
9) An old interesting book.
10) A French tall girl.
Правильные ответы к упражнению # 3
1) A tiny glass cup.
2) Six small round plastic tables.
3) A huge new swimming pool.
4) Awful old white shoes.
5) A new black BMW.
6) A new electronic guitar.
7) Flashy 3-year-old Italian car.
A small black cat.
9) An interesting old book.
10) A tall French girl.
Упражнение # 4
Выберите правильный вариант
1. That restaurant has …….
— overpriced Italian food
— Italian overpriced food
— Italian but overpriced food
2. I bought a pair of ….. shoos.
— new nice black
— nice new black
— black nice new
3. They live in …… house.
— a large white
— a white large
— a large and white
4. A …… girl walked into the room.
— young pretty
— pretty young
5. My father has a lot of ……. books.
— interesting old
— old interesting
6. We stayed in a ….. hotel.
— Little cute
— cute little
7. They live in an …….. mansion.
— old enormous
— enormous old
8. I need a …… laptop.
— new powerful
— powerful new
Правильные ответы к упражнению # 4
1. overpriced Italian food
2. new, nice, black
3. large white
4. pretty young
5. interesting old
6. cute little
7. enormous old
8. new powerful
Упражнение 5 4
Расставьте прилагательные в правильном порядке.
a) ….. reasons. /good three/
b) A ….. mouse. /little grey cute/
c) A ….. horse in the parade. /big beautiful Friesian black/
d) It’s ….. fruit. /round purple small/
e) I want ….. coffee. /Italian black hot/
f) I visited a ….. castle. /ancient spooky German/
f) My grandma has a ….. ring. /oldsilver beautiful/
h) A two-week cruise on a ….. liner. /huge Italian incredible brand-new ocean/
i) I met an politician. /important American/
Правильные ответы к упражнению # 5
a) Three good reasons.
b) A cute little grey mouse.
c) A beautiful big black Friesian horse in the parade.
d) It’s small, round, purple fruit.
e) I want hot black Italian coffee.
f) I visited a spooky ancient German castle.
g) My grandma has a beautiful old silver ring.
h) A two-week cruise on a huge, incredible, brand-new Italian ocean liner.
i) I met an important American politician.
Adjective order plus — various exercises
These exercises will give you some practice in adjective order, and also in word order in general. This post is part of an experiment to develop more tablet-friendly exercises.
The examples in the last two exercises are rather exaggerated; in practice we’d rarely use more than three adjectives together. They are also my interpretation; some native speakers might disagree about on or two of my more complicated examples.
If you want to make printable copies of the last two exercises, refresh the page or click on ‘Reshuffle’ before clicking on ‘Print’
Answer buttons are right at the bottom so that you are less tempted to cheat!
All images are from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image for attribution and file details.
Adjective types Part 1
We usually talk of eight categories but I’ve extended it to ten here. Keep trying and checking until you work it out.
| Exercise 2 | Using the information from Exercise 1, put the adjective types into the right order |
| Pick’N’Drop — Click or tap on one of the phrases on the right (a-h) and then click or tap on the space on the left where you think it should go. |
| 1. | a) | pattern | |||
| 2. | b) | colour | |||
| 3. | c) | age | |||
| 4. | d) | shape | |||
| 5. | e) | origin | |||
| 6. | f) | other qualities | |||
| 7. | g) | opinion | |||
| 8. | h) | purpose or type | |||
| 9. | i) | size | |||
| 10. | j) | material |
Random Idea English
http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com
Adjective types Part 2
| Exercise 3 | Put the words into the right category |
| Click on the ‘Start quiz’ button to begin. A word will appear above the table. Add it to the appropriate list by clicking on the box in the table where you think it should go. Repeat until you’ve sorted all the words. There are a total of 50 words, 5 for each category. |
| Exercise 4 | Put the words into the right order |
Pick’n’Swap — click on the word you want to move, and then on the place it should go. When you’ve got the whole line correct, the words will change colour to green.
Example — in the first question, click on she and then click on the first word. After that, click on wore and then on the second word, and so on.
| 1. | bikiniyellowpolkadotworeitsy-bitsyteenie-weenieshean. | |
| 2. | littlethosepuppiesspottedcutelookblack-and-whiteatDalmatian. | |
| 3. | beautifulbeachdeserteddiscoveredgoldenwesandythis. | |
| 4. | productionnewenormousfacilitycaranpurpose-builtthey’veopened. | |
| 5. | teacheryounggotSwedishPTwe’vetallagood-looking. | |
| 6. | newsmartphonehimselfhe’sanall-bells-and-whistlesboughtjustamazing. | |
| 7. | shegorgeouswearingawaspurpleeveningbacklessdresssilk. | |
| 8. | inlivetheyhalf-timberedcottageoldcountryablack-and-whitetiny. | |
| 9. | wearingahebrightly-colouredratherwasattractivetiesilkPaisley-pattern. | |
| 10. | SwissI’vethisjustboughtarmyincrediblesee-throughmulti-functionknife. |
Random Idea English
http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com
| Exercise 5 | Put the words into the right order |
swanky = fashionable and expensive in a way that is intended to impress people (OALD)
| 1. | advertisementnewsexiststupidyoucardidthatsportssee? | |
| 2. | swankycowboyhand-tooledapairhe’sbootsofbrownleathergot. | |
| 3. | oldlong-hairedcatSiamesethey’vefriendlygota. | |
| 4. | ismadegreenmarbleoftheirItalianstripyfakefireplace. | |
| 5. | bookourgotcookerytheSpanishwefromrecipefavourite. | |
| 6. | itleatherdownanloose-leafinoldwroteredhenotebook. | |
| 7. | hideoustheFrenchdressingovalatgreatlookedwooden-framedhemirror. | |
| 8. | warmshegreenwaswoollenalongskirttartanwearing. | |
| 9. | tallPolishtointroducedwasacharmingmodelheyoung. | |
| 10. | gavefive-courselavishaItalianbeautifully-prepareddinnertheyus. |
References
- English Grammar in Use Raymond Murphy (Cambridge)
- Practical English Usage Michael Swan (Oxford)
Links
- British Council Learn English — the order of adjectives
- University of Victoria — the order of adjectives
- Hong Kong Poly
- CCC.net
- Bikini song
- Literal minded — a linguist’s view
Answers
1. Choose the correct answers (a-c) to complete the sentences.
1 On our trip, we visited a shop selling ……… furniture.
a old beautiful Chinese
b Chinese beautiful old
c beautiful old Chinese
2 We ordered some ……… olives with our meal.
a small black Greek
b Greek black small
c black small Greek
3 My parents are buying a ……… sofa next week.
a new red comfortable
b red comfortable new
c comfortable new red
4 Our favourite singer has just married a ……… politician.
a middle-aged German tall
b tall middle-aged German
c German tall middle-aged
5 In the story, a girl finds the key to a ……… box.
a strange black antique
b black strange antique
c strange antique black
6 Look at those ……… kittens – they’re so cute!
a white young tiny
b tiny young white
c young tiny white
Answer
1 c 2 a 3 c 4 b 5 c 6 b
2. Choose the correct answers (a or b) to complete the text.
A young contestant at the Mental Calculation World Cup
There are more and more reports of child prodigies – children with exceptional talents. One of these is the 1……… maths genius Cameron Thompson. As a 2……… boy, he corrected his teacher by saying that zero isn’t the lowest number, because she had forgotten about negative numbers. A(n) 3……… girl called Priyanshi Somani won the Mental Calculation World Cup in 2010, held at the relatively 4……… university of Magdeburg. And a 5……… boy from Berlin started playing the violin at the age of two. Akim Camara has performed in front of 18,000 people, wearing a 6……… suit and playing a baby-size violin.
1 a Welsh amazing b amazing Welsh
2 a clever four-year-old b four-year-old clever
3 a Indian young b young Indian
4 a new German b German new
5 a remarkable little b little remarkable
6 a black tiny b tiny black
Answer
1 b 2 a 3 b 4 a 5 a 6 b
3. Complete each sentence with the most appropriate two adjectives below in the correct order.
ancient delicious famous Greek Italian purple
tiny Turkish white young
1 The red and ………………………… flag has a moon and a star on it.
2 The Parthenon is a(n) ………………………… temple in Athens.
3 She picked up the ………………………… boy to stop him from crying.
4 Michelangelo was a(n) ………………………… painter.
5 Let’s make a fruit salad – we can use these ………………………… grapes.
Answer
1 white Turkish 2 ancient Greek 3 tiny young
4 famous Italian 5 delicious purple
4. Choose the correct adjective. If both are correct, put a tick.
1 Don’t be afraid / frightened; the dog won’t hurt you.
2 His only alive / living relatives live in New Zealand.
3 Are you angry / annoyed because I’m late?
4 It’s a lonely / an alone life on that tiny island.
5 The glad / happy students celebrated the end of their exams with a party.
6 Shut the door quietly – your father’s asleep / sleeping.
Answer
1 ✓ 2 living 3 ✓ 4 a lonely 5 happy 6 ✓
5. Complete the sentences with the words below. Use a dictionary to help you.
alone asleep aware content cross irritable sorry sure
1 I can’t be ………………………… , but that looks like Jaime over there.
2 If your brother’s still ………………………… , he’s going to miss breakfast!
3 When I’m on holiday, I always feel ………………………… just to sit on the beach and sunbathe.
4 No one was ………………………… that the date of the test had been changed.
5 Does your sister live ………………………… or with friends?
6 She seems really ………………………… about the accident.
7 He becomes ………………………… when he hasn’t had enough sleep.
8 Emma looks really ………………………… . What did you say to make her so angry?
Answer
1 sure 2 asleep 3 content 4 aware 5 alone
6 sorry 7 irritable 8 cross
Extra exercises
1. Choose the correct adjective to complete the sentences.
1 The afraid / frightened children hid during the storm.
2 We heard angry / annoyed voices from next door.
3 There are a lot of alone / lonely old people in the world.
4 There were a lot of glad / happy faces at the party.
5 He picked up the asleep / sleeping child and put her to bed.
Answer
1 frightened 2 angry 3 lonely 4 happy 5 sleeping
2. Choose the correct words to complete the sentences.
1 The music streaming service Spotify has over 20 million providers / subscribers worldwide.
2 One of the funniest things about the show is the channel / interaction between the comedian and the audience.
3 Which provider / subscriber offers the best service?
4 The content / platform on the website isn’t good.
5 Does internet accessibility / feedback decrease the further you move away from your router?
Answer
1 subscribers 2 interaction 3 provider 4 content
5 accessibility
3. Replace the underlined words with extreme adjectives.
1 That film was very funny. ……………………………
2 We were very tired when we got home because we’d been travelling all day. ……………………………
3 My sister was really angry when I spilled coffee on her laptop. ……………………………
4 I’m really hungry because I didn’t have time for breakfast this morning. ……………………………
5 The little boy couldn’t take his eyes off the magic show. He was really interested. ……………………………
6 The actress was very frightened when she heard that someone was stalking her. ……………………………
Answer
1 hilarious 2 exhausted 3 furious 4 starving
5 fascinated 6 terrified
4. Complete the sentences with the phrases below.
be sure looks like most likely say that some kind
1 They’re ………………………… journalists, or something like that.
2 It looks to me like a festival of …………………………
3 I can’t …………………………, but I think it’s Broadway.
4 I’d ………………………… she was enjoying all the publicity.
5 It ………………………… some kind of castle, or maybe a palace.
Answer
1 most likely 2 some kind 3 be sure 4 say that
5 looks like