upper-intermediate

1. FILE 2A: ADJECTIVE ORDER
EXPLANATION AND EXERCISES

2. • Adjective Order
• When using more than one adjective to
describe a noun place the adjectives in the
following order before the noun.
• NOTE: We usually use no more than three
adjectives preceding a noun.

3. OPINION
e.g: an interesting book, a boring lecture
DIMENSION
e.g: a big apple, a thin wallet
AGE
e.g: a new car, a modern building, an ancient ruin
SHAPE
e.g: a square box, an oval mask, a round ball
COLOUR
e.g: a pink hat, a blue book, a black coat
ORIGIN
e.g: some Italian shoes, a Canadian town, an American car
MATERIAL
e.g: a wooden box, a woolen sweater, a plastic toy

4. Here are some examples of nouns modified with three
adjectives in the correct order based on the list above.
Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.
A wonderful old Italian clock. (opinion - age - origin)
A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - color)
A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - color -
material)
Some slim new French trousers. (dimension - age - origin)

5. ADJECTIVE ORDER QUIZ
Place the three adjectives in the correct
order before the noun.

6. book- interesting- small -Spanish

7. CORRECT
An interesting small Spanish book
Opinion- size- origin

10. picture- modern - ugly - rectangular

11. CORRECT
An ugly modern rectangular picture
opinion- age- shape

12. apple -ripe - green - delicious

13. CORRECT
A delicious ripe green apple
opinion- age - colour

14. suit- woolen - large - black

15. CORRECT
a large black woollen suit
size – colour- material

16. house- beautiful - modern - small

17. CORRECT
a beautiful small modern house
opinion- size – age

18. magazine- German - slender - strange

19. CORRECT
a strange slender German magazine
opinion- dimension – origin

20. cap- cotton - funny - green

21. CORRECT
a funny green cotton cap
opinion- colour-material