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Click here to skip the lesson and go right to the adjective order exercise.

   What is an adjective?
Adjectives are words that describe a noun:
interesting, beautiful, lovely, exciting, fun, old , etc.

   Adjective Position:
  Adjectives can be used BEFORE a noun:
  • He's an old soldier.
  • They're intelligent students.
  • That's an expensive car.
  •   Adjectives can be used AFTER a linking verb:
  • The soldier is old.
  • The students seem intelligent.
  • The car looks expensive.

  •  
       Adjective Order:
          The adjectives in the table below follow this order:
  • Opinion or Observation -- beautiful, ugly, easy, fast, interesting, boring, etc.
  • Size -- small, tall, short, big, enormous, huge, tiny, etc.
  • Age -- young, old, new, historic, ancient, etc.
  • Shape-- round, square, rectangular, etc.
  • Color -- red, black, green, purple, etc.
  • Nationality -- French, Asian, American, Canadian, Japanese, etc.
  • Material -- wooden, metallic, plastic, glass, paper, etc.
  • Purpose or Qualifier -- foldout sofa, fishing boat, racing car, etc.

  •  

    ADJECTIVE ORDER CHART
     Opinion   Size   Age   Shape   Color   Nationality  Material   Purpose   Noun 
    expensivesmall   German racingcar
    pretty antique   gold mirror
     tiny roundyellow   flowers
     long  blonde   hair
     medium square   checkerboard
     little  blue cardboarddollhouse
    strong young  American baseballplayer
    tasty    Italian  food
    noisy 4-year-old whiteSiamese  cat

     
    Some Examples:
  • An expensive small German racing car
  • A pretty antique gold mirror
  • Some tiny round yellow flowers
  • Long blonde hair
  • A medium square checker board
  • A little blue cardboard doll house
  • A strong young American baseball player
  • Some tasty Italian food
  • A noisy 4-year-old white Siamese cat
  • Now it's your turn to try.
    Click here to do an adjective order exercise.


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