Adjective Order in Sentences
Order adjectives within sentences according to conventional English patterns (opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose) to produce natural-sounding descriptions
What a learner can do afterwards
- Arrange multiple adjectives before a noun in conventional order, e.g. 'a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife' simplified to classroom examples like 'a small red bag' not 'a red small bag'
- Identify when adjective order sounds unnatural and rearrange to match English conventions, e.g. correct 'the wooden big table' to 'the big wooden table'
- Apply the size-before-colour-before-material pattern in descriptive writing, e.g. 'a tall grey stone castle' rather than 'a stone grey tall castle'
The lesson
When you put more than one adjective before a noun, like 'a small red bag', English has a usual order for stacking them. Say the adjectives in that order and the sentence sounds natural. Mix up the order and the sentence still makes sense, but it sounds a bit odd to a reader.
Zara is describing a castle. She could write 'a stone grey tall castle', but that sounds backwards. Size comes before colour, and colour comes before material, so the natural order is 'a tall grey stone castle'.
When two adjectives feel like they're competing for the same spot, say the phrase out loud both ways. Your ear usually catches the order that sounds right, especially size before colour, and colour before material.
Adjectives usually line up in this order: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, then purpose.
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