Portfolio 2 - Grammar (Adjectives Order)

People often make grammar mistakes in English writing. One of my common grammar mistakes is the order of adjectives. Adjectives are used to describe nouns in order to give certain image to readers. However, whenever we use more than one adjective to describe a single noun in a time, we need to follow the order of adjectives, not just simply write them without any rule. The correct order of adjectives should be as the following: determiner or article, opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, religion, material, purpose. We should follow this order whenever we want to describe a noun using multiple adjectives. First, we need to determine whose the object belongs to, and we use possessive pronouns for it. On the other hand, we can also use articles (CILL). Second, the opinion adjectives simply mean those which describe the opinion of anyone to that particular object (Learn4Good Net, 2003 - 2008). Some examples of them are ugly, good and frightening. Third, the size adjectives, such as huge and small are those which indicate the size of the object (Learn4Good Net, 2003 - 2008). Then will be the age adjectives, for instance, old and new. Age adjectives indicate the time of the object since it was created (Learn4Good Net, 2003 - 2008). Next, the shape adjectives and colour adjectives give us a general guideline of how the object looks like. Besides, there are origin adjectives that tell us the place the object is made or come from. We have also the religious adjectives that tell us the religion that the object belongs to. Next, the material adjectives tell us clearly the material that is used to create the object. Finally, the purpose adjectives which show the usage of the object. According to Learn4Good Net, the purpose adjectives are usually end with "-ing", this makes the identification easier. In brief, the usage of adjectives is simple; however, we still have to take note of their order when using them.

Exercise (CILL)

Correct the order of the adjectives and noun.

1. desk office big ugly an wooden brown
2. hair long black straight my sister's
3. photograph black white and oval a family historic
4. vase jade Ming beautiful a antique little green
5. computer laptop high-tech brand-new deep university's blue my

My Answers

1. An ugly big brown wooden office desk
2. My sister's long straight black hair
3. A historic oval black and white family photograph
4. A beautiful little antique green Ming jade vase
5. My university's high-tech brand-new deep blue laptop computer

Official Answers

1) An ugly big brown wooden office desk.

1. Determiner or article - An
2. opinion - ugly
3. size - big
4. shape -
5. age -
6. colour - brown
7. nationality -
8. religion -
9. material - wooden
10. noun used as an adjective - office
11. the main noun - desk.

2) My sister's long straight black hair.

1. Determiner or article - My sister's
2. opinion -
3. size - long
4. shape - straight
5. age -
6. colour - black
7. nationality -
8. religion -
9. material -
10. noun used as an adjective -
11. the main noun - hair.

3) A historic oval black and white family photograph.

1. Determiner or article - a
2. opinion - historic
3. size -
4. shape - oval
5. age - (not historic, as historic means about a famous event.)
6. colour - black and white
7. nationality -
8. religion -
9. material -
10. noun used as an adjective - family
11. the main noun - photograph.

4) A beautiful little antique green jade Ming vase. (Antique means over one hundred years old, and therefore valuable.)

1. Determiner or article - a
2. opinion - beautiful
3. size - little
4. shape -
5. age - antique
6. colour - green
7. nationality -
8. religion -
9. material - jade
10. noun used as an adjective - Ming
11. the main noun - vase.

5) My university's high-tech brand-new deep blue laptop computer.

1. Determiner or article - My university's
2. opinion - high-tech
3. size -
4. shape -
5. age - brand-new
6. colour - deep blue
7. nationality -
8. religion -
9. material -
10. noun used as an adjective - laptop
11. the main noun - computer.

Reference:-

Learn4Good Net. (2003 - 2008). Adjective Lesson Plan. Retrieved September 8, 2008, from source http://www.learn4good.com/languages/evrd_grammar/adjective_order.htm

Centre for Independent Language Learning. (2003). Adjective Order. Retrieved September 8, 2008, from source http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CiLL/exercises/adjectiveorder.htm