When a number of adjectives are used together, the order depends on the function

of the adjective. The usual order is:

Quantity, Value/opinion, Size, Temperature, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin,

Material

What the adjective expresses Examples

Quantity four, ten, a few, several

Value/Opinion delicious, charming, beautiful

Size tall, tiny, huge

Temperature hot, cold

Age old, young, new, 14-year-old

Shape square, round

Color red, purple, green

Origin Swedish, Victorian, Chinese

Material glass, silver, wooden

EXAMPLES

 They have a lovely old red post-box.

 The playroom has six small round plastic tables.
 I bought some charming Victorian silver ornaments at the flea market.
 She is selling her flashy 3-year-old Italiancar.
 It was a beautiful cold day.
 Word Order for Adjectives Exercise at Auto-English

Below you can see a diagram explaining the position of adjectives before a noun.
Use it to answer the questions which follow.

OPINION CONDITION SIZE AGE COLOUR ORIGIN MATERIAL NOUN

Order the words in the boxes.

my teacher old maths smelly new a perfect system

1 ____________________________ 8 _____________________________

black small box Turkish a old 18th

a Scottish fantastic castle
century

2 ___________________________ 9 _____________________________

man a fat friendly young a businessman horrible greedy

3 __________________________ 10 ____________________________

tall our headmaster boring a big old brown bear

4 __________________________ 11 ____________________________

wooden dark a table long self- middle-

student a
righteous class

5 __________________________ 12 ____________________________

city a Spanish beautiful old spoilt boy nasty a little

6 __________________________ 13 ____________________________

arts nice teacher French our green- black-

gorgeous a girl
eyed haired
7 __________________________
14
RESPUESTA
1 My smelly old maths teacher 8 a perfect new system

my teacher old maths smelly new a perfect system

2 a small old black Turkish box 9 a fantastic 18th century Scottish

castle
black small box Turkish a old
18th
3 a friendly fat young man a Scottish fantastic castle
century
man a fat friendly young 10 a horrible greedy businessman
4 our boring tall headmaster a business horrible greedy
tall our headmaster boring 11 a big old brown bear
5 a long dark wooden table a big old brown bear
wooden dark a table long 12 a self-righteous middle-class student
6 a beautiful old Spanish city self- middle-
student a
righteous class
city a Spanish beautiful old
13 a nasty spoilt little boy
7 our nice French arts teacher
spoilt boy nasty a little
arts nice teacher our French
14 a gorgeous black-haired green-eyed
girl

green- black-
gorgeous a girl
eyed haired