Adjectives cannot be written in any order. There are rules, so you
should use the following order:
1. Determiner
or article
Determiners e.g. this, that, these,
those, my, mine, your, yours, him, his, her, hers, they, their, Sam's ; or
Articles - a, an, the
2. Opinion
adjective
e.g. polite, fun, cute, difficult, hard-working
3. Size,
including adjectives, comparatives and superlatives
height; e.g. tall, short, high, low;
taller, tallest
width; e.g. wide, narrow, thin, slim;
wider, widest
length; e.g. long, short; longer,
longest
volume; e.g. fat, huge; fatter,
fattest
4. Shape
e.g. circular, oval, triangular, square, 5-sided, hexagonal,
irregular
5. Age
e.g. new, young, adolescent, teenage, middle-aged, old, ancient
6. Colour
e.g. red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, grey, black,
black and white, light blue, dark red, pale blue, reddish brown, off-white,
bright green, warm yellow
7. Nationality
e.g. Hong Kong, Chinese, English, American, Canadian, Japanese
8. Religion
e.g. Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Moslem, pagan, atheist
9. Material
e.g. wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, paper, silk
10. Noun
used as an adjective
e.g. campus (as in 'campus activities')
11. The
noun that the adjectives are describing.
Sentence structure:
Together the article or determiner, adjective(s) and noun(s) make
a 'noun phrase'. Noun phrases can also have adverbs describing the adjectives;
e.g. nearly circular; and can also have relative clauses, although these are
not discussed on this page.
Style:
Although it is possible to write a sentence that uses all the
categories; e.g. 'my beautiful, long, curving, new, pink, western, Christian,
silk wedding dress', it is bad style as it is too long. Try to use less than
five adjectives in a single list. Therefore you could say "Have you seen
my beautiful new cream silk wedding dress? It's long and curving, and is in
western Christian style."
How to remember the order
You can use the 'Roman room' memorization technique. This involves
remembering a place that you know well, such as your home, and imagining
walking through it, looking at things.
12. Imagine
that you arrive at the door of your home. On the door is the letter 'A', and
you are greeted by someone who lives there. This helps you to remember the
article 'A' or the determiner(s); e.g. my Mother's.
13. Imagine
that you are happy to see each other. This helps you to remember the opinion
adjective.
14. Imagine
the size of your home: is it big, small, or long? This helps you to remember the size
adjectives.
15. Imagine
that you go into your home and you see an object. Remember the shape of the
object.
16. Now
imagine that you walk around your home; e.g. towards your room. Think of
another object further from the door. Think of the age of that object; e.g. new
or old.
17. Move
on to another object, this time a colourful one. Remember what colour it is.
18. Move
on to another object. This object should remind you of a foreign place; e.g. a
picture of somewhere in China, or a souvenir from a holiday abroad. This is to
help you remember nationality.
19. Next
imagine moving to another object, this time a religious one. Maybe you have a
place for worshipping your ancestors, or a statue of Buddha.
20. Next
move to another object. This should be special because it is made of one
material; e.g. a crystal ornament or a wooden statue.
21. Finally
move to a place where there is an object that is described with 2 words, and
the first is a noun; e.g. a book shelf. Imagine that this is the end of your
journey around your flat.
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