Adjective order
Two adjectives
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:
| good | nice | awful |
| bad | beautiful | important |
| lovely | brilliant | wonderful |
| strange | excellent | nasty |
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun, for example:
| Food | Furniture, buildings | People, animals |
|---|---|---|
| delicious | comfortable | clever |
| tasty | uncomfortable | intelligent |
| friendly |
-ed adjectives
The commonest -ed adjectives are:
| annoyed | excited |
| bored | frightened |
| closed | tired |
| delighted | worried |
| disappointed |
We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:
We usually put an opinion adjective in front of a descriptive adjective:
Adjectives after link verbs
We use some adjectives only after a link verb:
| afraid | ill |
| alive | ready |
| alone | sorry |
| asleep | sure |
| content | unable |
| glad | well |
Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
| annoyed |
| bored |
| finished |
| pleased |
| thrilled |
We say:
but we do not say:
Three or more adjectives
Sometimes we have three adjectives in front of a noun, but this is unusual:
It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
| 1 | General opinion |
|---|---|
| 2 | Specific opinion |
| 3 | Size |
| 4 | Shape |
| 5 | Age |
| 6 | Colour |
| 7 | Nationality |
| 8 | Material |
Adjectives in front of nouns
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
| north | northern | countless | indoor |
| south | southern | occasional | outdoor |
| east | eastern | lone | |
| west | western | mere |
We say:
but we do not say: