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Order of Adjectives in English
Order of Adjectives
The order of adjectives in English is determiner, quantity, opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, color/colour, origin, material, type, and purpose. There is a table below with lots of examples.However, before we can talk about the order of adjectives in English, we need to understand the difference between cumulative adjectives and coordinate adjectives. The order of adjectives only applies to cumulative adjectives. So, you cannot skip this part.
Cumulative Adjectives. Cumulative adjectives work together to modify their noun. They cumulate (or combine together) as they get nearer to the noun to create a more specific meaning. Cumulative adjectives must appear in a specific order, and they cannot be separated by commas or the word "and." Look at these examples:
- a handmade mixing bowl
- those unsold goalkeeper gloves
- my first yellow taxi cab
- a mixing handmade bowl
- those unsold and goalkeeper gloves
- my first, yellow, taxi cab
The Order of Cumulative Adjectives in English
Notice that this page started with the title "Order of Adjectives," but now we have the title "The Order of Cumulative Adjectives." We've refined the title because only cumulative adjectives demand this order:Placement | Type of Adjective | Examples |
---|---|---|
1 | ||
2 | Quantity | one, three, ninety-nine |
3 | Opinion or Observation | beautiful, clever, witty, well-mannered |
4 | Size | big, medium-sized, small |
5 | Physical Quality | thin, lumpy, cluttered |
6 | Shape | square, round, long |
7 | Age | young, middle-aged, old |
8 | Colour/Color | red, blue, purple |
9 | Origin or Religion | French, Buddhist |
10 | Material | metal, leather, wooden |
11 | Type | L-shaped, two-sided, all-purpose |
12 |
- white, lumpy spots
- white and lumpy spots
- lumpy, white spots
- lumpy and white spots
- sweet, black and yellow, sticky toffees

Be Careful with Recognized Things
Be careful with the precedence list. Sometimes, an adjective and a noun are inseparable because they belong together as a single semantic unit (i.e., a recognized thing). For example:- my wooden Spanish guitar
- my Spanish wooden guitar
- He was a deluded fat cat in City of London.
- The rock ripped his expensive wet suit.
- The gamble was a long shot. (It doesn't matter what adjectives accompany these terms (called compound nouns), the shaded words must always be together. This is why purpose is the last category in the order of adjectives. When you add an adjective like "mixing" to "bowl," you create a recognized thing, "mixing bowl.")
Let Your Instinct Guide You
Rather bizarrely, native English speakers can order their adjectives correctly without ever being taught this precedence list (or even being aware that adjectives are meant to follow an established order). So, if you're a native English speaker, you should let your instinct guide you. Trust me. You know this list well enough, even if you don't know you do.Other Versions of This List
The list of precedence given on this page is not universally agreed, but all versions are pretty similar. More specifically, you might find other references that give physical quality, shape, and age in a different order.Help Us Improve Grammar Monster
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