Instructor's Notes

LearningCurve activities on modifier placement are available at the end of the Troublespots section of this handbook.

T5 Adjective Order

Adjectives generally appear in the following order in English sentences.

  1. Article, pronoun, or other determiner: a, an, the, that, his, their, Janine’s

  2. Evaluation or judgment: beautiful, ugly, elegant, magnificent, impressive

  3. Size or dimension: short, tall, long, large, small, big, little

  4. Shape: round, rectangular, square, baggy, circular, octagonal

  5. Age: new, young, old, aged, antique

  6. Color: pink, turquoise, gray, orange

  7. History or origin (country and religion): Asian, Norwegian, Thai, American, Protestant, Mongolian, Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic, Jewish

  8. Material: copper, cotton, plastic, oak, linen

  9. Noun used as a descriptive adjective: kitchen (sink), bedroom (lamp)

Page H-94

When you use several adjectives to modify a noun, arrange them in the order expected in English.

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