Word Order of Adjectives
1. Study the table.
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GROUP |
EXAMPLES |
3. size/weight (how big?)
Note. When two or more adjectives of the same category are used the more general adjective comes before the more specific one.
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one, two wonderful, nice, great, awful, terrible large, small, long, short, tall, heavy quiet, famous, important, soft, wet, difficult, fast, angry, warm new, old oval, square red, blue, green American, British, French stone, plastic, steel, paper electric, political, road evening, bath, riding
a kind, gentle man a long distinguished career |
2. Write a list of things to be sold at an auction.
- basin/ sugar, antique, silver
- vase/ glass, old, lovely
- mirror/ wall, attractive, ornamented
- desk/ plastic, modern, office
- chairs/ kitchen, red, metal
- boat/ model, splendid, old
- stamps/ postage, valuable, Australian
- table/ small, coffee, wooden
- dress white, expensive, wedding, lace
- car/ old-fashioned, German, elegant
3. Look at each advertisement and write the information in a single sentence.
- This game is new. It's for the family. And it's exciting.
- This computer is for business. It's Japanese. And it's powerful.
- This fire is electric. It's excellent. And it's small.
- This is a chocolate bar. It's new. And it's a big bar.
- This comedy is American. It's for television. And it's terrific.
- These doors are aluminium. They are for your garage. And they are stylish.
- These shoes are modern. They are for sports. And they are wonderful.
- This phone is mobile. It's German. And it's very good.
4. You are looking for items you want to buy. Begin each sentence with ‘I'm looking for _____’
- clock radio – white – Taiwanese – cheap – for my bedside table
- sports car – well-maintained – second-hand – with a low mileage
- polished – beautiful – antique – dining-table – mahogany – English
- canvas – American – a pair of – trainers – grey and red – which I can use for jogging
- cottage – stone-built – small – old – country
- cotton – dress –summer – pink and white – for my holiday
- lamp – china – tall – attractive – round – for my writing table
- flowers – exotic – rare – wild – for my garden
5. Read the following advertisements. Make up your own advertisements.
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A pretty detached town cottage with dining hall, living room, fitted kitchen and conservatory. Two bedrooms and bathroom. Gas heating, attractive big rear garden.
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Good-looking, slim, kind, cheerful, mature, non-smoking Welshman, 45, interested in everything except opera and politics, seeks attractive, warm, sensitive, intelligent woman in 30s for friendship, love, who knows?
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6. Put the adjectives in the correct order.
Rent our House in Italy for Your Holidays.
It's a (stone, beautiful, large) villa on the coast, with spectacular views of the sea. You will love the (old, huge, marble, swimming) pool we have in our (mountainside, terraced, colourful) garden. There is a (sunny, stone, rectangular) patio at the front with many (terracotta, flower-filled, circular) pots. The house has five (elegant, white, medium-sized) bedrooms and three marble bathrooms – each with its own (antique, little, wonderful) wall-painting. The living room has a (cool, lovely, marble) floor with (expensive, Persian, antique) rugs and comfortable sofas. You can eat in the many (Italian, excellent, traditional) restaurants nearby and enjoy using the facilities in the (sports, huge, modern, well-equipped) centre.
7. Rewrite these jumbled sentences with the words in the correct order. As a clue the first word of the sentence has a capital letter.
- terraced/ Victorian/ They/ live/ house/ wonderful
- wine/ It's/ ancient/ jar/ Greek/ priceless/ ceramic
- superb/ textured/ the/ She/ ten/ sales/ found/ metres/ dark/ blue/ of/ velvet/ in
- orange/ for/ study/ We've/ a/ lovely/ chosen/ inexpensive/ and/ wallpaper/ green/ the
- aluminium/ These/ stylish/ doors/ are/ garage