Writing Blog Number 2

20240219 Adjective Order

Adjective Order

Here is something you probably know but may not realise you know.

There is a distinct order in adjectives in English.

It happens naturally for native English speakers, but we often cannot put out finger on why a non-native speaker sounds wrong when they use adjectives out of order.

Oh, an adjective is a word used to describe a noun. Just so we’re all on the same page here.

So, what is the order?

Here it is: number, opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, colour, origin, material, type, purpose... in proper English.
US English tends to put age before shape, but not all the time. So we’ll stick with the Oxbridge manner of doing things.

Here’s an explanation:

0. number: how many of an object; some do not consider this an adjective
two, 127, a few

1. opinion: what a person thinks of the object
funny, pretty, odd

2. size: how big or not big an object is
tiny, large, four-feet-tall

3. physical quality: the general appearance of the object
thin, untidy, smooth

4. shape: relating to the geometrical dimensions of the object
round, triangular, cuboid

5. age: how old the object is
young, childish, old

6. colour: the hue or tone an object is
blue, red, light mauve

7. origin: the place an object comes from; this is most often a proper noun adjective
Dutch, Cornish, Mexican

8. material: what the object is made out of
denim, metal, wood

9. type: if there is a specific form that needs to be emphasised, or if the object is like something
general-purpose, four-sided, bread-like

10. purpose: what the object is used for
cleaning, hammering, cooking

So:
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the title of the movie, is 2, 3, 7.
I saw a beautiful, tall, thin, middle-aged, blonde-haired, Norwegian woman is 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7

You really have to force the issue to have all 10 (11) in a list...

Now, when I was younger, we were told that you not only separate a list of adjectives by commas, but you also put “and” between the last two. This is only compulsory if the list of adjectives comes after a form of the verb “to be”, relating to an object before that verb.

So, She was a small, shy dog has no “and” because “dog” comes after “was”; meanwhile, The dog was small and shy has an “and” because the adjectives describe the dog, and they come after “was”, while dog comes before.

If you have two adjectives from the same number, they are also often separated by an “and”: he wore a red and green hat. But if there are three, then there is only one and: he wore a red, yellow and green hat. Even if we add other adjectives: he wore a stupid, red and green, plastic hat.

Adjectives! Easy? Yeah, sure…