Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Order of adjectives

Have a look at the following video.


And here you have an explanation about the order of adjectives taken from the British Council (http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ar/english-grammar/adjectives/order-adjectives). Below you can find some exercises you can do.
Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:
He was a nice intelligent young man.
She had a small round black wooden box.

Opinion adjectives:

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:

goodbadlovely strange
beautifulnicebrilliantexcellent
awfulimportantwonderfulnasty

Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun:
Food: tasty; delicious
Furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable
People, animals: clever; intelligent; friendly
We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:
Nice tasty soup.
nasty uncomfortable armchair
lovely intelligent animal
Usually we put an adjective that gives an opinion in front of an adjective that is descriptive:
a nice red dress; a silly old man; those horrible yellow curtains
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
a handsome young man; a big black car; that horrible big dog
Sometimes we have three adjectives, but this is unusual:
nice handsome young man;
big black American car;
that horrible big fierce dog
It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
12345678
General
opinion
Specific
opinion
Size ShapeAge ColourNationalityMaterial
We use some adjectives only after a link verb:
afraidalivealoneasleep
contentglad illready
sorrysureunablewell
Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
annoyed;  finished;  bored; pleased; thrilled
We say:
Our teacher was ill.
My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed
but we do not say:
We had an ill teacher.
When he heard the news he was a very glad uncle
He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
north
south
east
west
northern
southern
eastern
western
countless
occasional
lone
eventful
indoor
outdoor
We say:
He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new machinery.
but we do not say:
The district he lives in is eastern
The problems with the new machinery were countless.
Try these tasks to improve your adjective ordering.

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