Test it, Fix it. English grammar - Kenna Bourke 2003
Word order with adjectives
Test it 
1 Find and correct any sentences that are wrong.
2 Choose the correct sentence in each pair.
a You tired look.
b You look tired.
c You need large two eggs.
d You need two large eggs.
e An Italian leather handbag.
f A leather Italian handbag.
g The poor boy is ill.
h The poor is ill.
i She drives a tiny white car.
j She drives a white tiny car.
к What a nice little boy!
I What a little nice boy!
m It good tastes!
n It tastes good!
о They're football black boots.
p They're black football boots.
q He's tall, thin and blond.
r He's tall, thin, blond.
s He's got five Siamese cats.
t He's got Siamese five cats.
Test it again 
1 Put the adjectives in the correct order before the nouns.
a Nepalese/red/beautiful scarf
b tall/thin/blue-eyed man
c big/first match
d cycling/blue/lycra shorts
e Belgian/hot/delicious chips
f ballet/silk/pink shoes
g scary/French film
h German/shepherd/dangerous dog
i long/fifth email
j yellow/seven/tiny ducks
2 Choose the correct option, A or B.
a I bought ... music box.
A a lovely Italian
В an Italian lovely
b Jo's got a ... car.
A black huge sports
В huge black sports
c That's the ... thing you've said!
A stupid third
В third stupid
d I live in ... house.
A an old stone
В a stone old
e That was ... curry!
A a spicy excellent
В an excellent spicy
f You ...
A seem unhappy
В unhappy seem
g Could you pass me the .... ruler?
A metal long
В long metal
h The room looks ...
A light sunny
В light and sunny
i We need a ... dictionary.
A good French
В French good
j Smuff is ... rabbit.
A in adorable little Dutch
В a Dutch little adorable
Fix it
Answers to Test it
Check your answers. Wrong answer?
Read the right Fix it note to find out why.F
2 The correct sentences are:
b → F
d → D
e → B
g → E
i → A
k → C
n → F
p → B
g → G
s → D
Answers to Test it again
1
a beautiful red Nepalese
b tall thin blue-eyed
c first big
d blue lycra cycling
e delicious hot Belgian
f pink silk ballet
g scary French
h dangerous German shepherd
i fifth long
j seven tiny yellow
2
a A b B c B d A e B
f A g B h B i A j A
Fix it notes
A
Put adjectives describing size, length or height before other adjectives but after adjectives describing opinion.
В
Put adjectives describing colour, origin, material and purpose in that order.
C
Put adjectives describing opinion, e.g. beautiful, before any other adjectives.
D
Put numbers before adjectives.
E
Adjectives go before (not after) a noun. Always put a noun, e.g. thing, boy, after an adjective except in special cases.
F
Put adjectives after (not before) these verbs: appear, be, become, feel, get, look, seem, smell, sound and taste.
G
Use and before the last adjective if you use two or more adjectives after appear, be, become, feel, get, look, seem, smell, sound and taste.
Review
Word order with adjectives
It's impossible to give exact rules for word order with adjectives in English because there are many exceptions. However, there are some guidelines that will help you in choose the correct word order in most cases. Generally you don't use more than three adjectives together in the same sentence.
• You usually put adjectives that describe your opinion before any other adjectives.
John's handsome, slim and fair-haired.
What an adorable little baby!
• You use adjectives that describe size, length or height before adjectives that describe colour, origin, material or purpose.
He's got a big red nose.
That's a small Dutch rabbit.
It's a long silk scarf.
He drives a black racing car.
• You use adjectives that describe colour, origin, material or purpose in that order.
These are green Alsatian glass drinking cups.
Bill is a brown German shepherd dog.
• You put numbers and words like first, second, last, etc. before adjectives.
There ripe tomatoes.
That's the last boring party I'm going to.
Note: You can use an adjective without a noun in special cases, e.g. the elderly, the poor, the unemployed, the young, etc. In these cases, you're talking about a group of people and you're using the adjective as a noun.
This charity raises money for the poor. (Poor people as a group.)
• After appear, be, become, feel, get, look, seem, sound, smell and taste, you use and before the last adjective if you use two or more adjectives in the same sentence. If you use three adjectives, you put a comma after the first adjective.
It tastes nice and spicy.
You look tiled and unhappy.