The order of adjectives before a noun. Order of adjectives in English

18.02.2014

In English, it is normal to use more than one adjective before a noun.

For example, “My parents live in a nice new house" or "In the kitchen there is a beautiful large round wooden table".

Many people learning English find it difficult to put adjectives in the correct order, especially if there are more than two of them.

Today I propose to figure out and finally remember what is the correct order of using adjectives in English.

Types of adjectives: objective and subjective

Of course, English is the language of exceptions and all kinds of amendments. But, nevertheless, it still has a certain usual algorithm, according to which all English adjectives have their place in a phrase with a noun.

I would like to note that adjectives can be divided into two large groups - factual ( objective – factadjectives) and adjectives expressing the personal opinion of someone ( subjective – opinionadjectives).

The first group provides real-life information about something, that is, something you can’t argue with. This could be size, color, age, etc.

But the second group of adjectives is responsible for how someone perceives this or that object (person, phenomenon) and what assessment they give it.

Adjectives are usually placed before a noun in the following order

1. Subjective (evaluative) -an expensive antique table; a delicious spicy soup;

2. Objective (factual): description of physical properties

• a big English sheepdog
• a handsome tall young man
• a large round table
• my beautiful new wardrobe
• a small red bag

When a sentence has two or more color adjectives, we must use a conjunction and:

• a black and blue dress
• yellow, white and green socks

There are also some established conventions in the order of color adjectives, such as black and white, (NOT white and black); red, white and blue.

3. Objective (actual) : origin – an old Ukrainian song; the latest British film.

4. Objective (actual) : material – a large wooden desk; an expensive oval antique silver mirror

5. Objective (actual) : definitive – a beautiful old Italian touring car; several young American baseball players.

In principle, the order of adjectives in English may differ slightly, but I have suggested the one that is usually used.

You can check your understanding of the material here.

Does it ever happen to you that when you are describing something, one adjective is not enough for you? Does it happen that even two or three are not enough?

Has it ever happened that when you hear or read a sentence in English, you feel that there is “something wrong” with it? This feeling may arise because the order of words in the sentence is disturbed, because in the English language, where everything has its own order, the order of words is very important.

And before speaking or writing, it is useful to think a little about what order is best to arrange adjectives if there is more than one.

The place of an adjective in a sentence is before the noun it describes. But if there are several adjectives, then its order is determined by its meaning, so we divide adjectives into three categories. This classification is simplified, we present it to make it easier for you to understand the order of using adjectives before nouns. If you are interested in a scientific theoretical approach, then you better turn to a textbook on theoretical grammar :)

So, we will look at three categories into which adjectives can be divided by meaning.

Descriptive adjectives ( descriptive or qualitative adjectives ) convey a sign of an object, which can manifest itself to a greater or lesser extent. These include:

adjectives meaning size(Size): small, large, big, tiny;
color(Colour): red, white, blue, green;
adjectives meaning age(Age): young, old, recent, ancient;
adjectives meaning form(Shape): round, square, long, heart-shaped;
adjectives meaning emotions(Emotions): sad, glad, happy, upset.

In addition, descriptive adjectives also include those that describe material (Material): wooden, silk, leather, metal and origin (Origin): American, Russian, Latin. Although the last two types are sometimes classified as the next category of adjectives.

Highlight classifying adjectives which refer the noun to a certain class. For example, this category includes adjectives that refer a noun to a specific area: political, linguistic, economic, musical.

These adjectives generally have and do not have degrees of comparison? since an item can only belong to one class. The phrases sound quite strange: more musical instrument, less pedagogical report and the like. Although there are exceptions when authors may specifically use classifying adjectives in a comparative or superlative degree to achieve a certain stylistic effect.

And another important category is adjectives that characterize the personal opinion, judgment or assessment of the speaker ( opinion adjectives ): good, bad, excellent, terrible. Compared to descriptive and classifying adjectives, opinion adjectives may change depending on the speaker’s opinion: for some the dish is tasty, for others it is not, for some the picture seems beautiful, for others it is terrible.

This category can include: adjectives that express a qualitative assessment ( Personal opinion and quality ): beautiful, nice, pleasant, cheap, good, bad, excellent, terrible and so on; adjectives denoting sensations (Senses): tasty, cold, hot, smooth.

Now we come directly to our topic: the order of using adjectives before nouns. You just need to remember a few simple rules to always use adjectives in a sentence correctly.

Rule No. 1. First the description, then the class.

Descriptive adjectives come before classifying adjectives:

Rule #2. Rating before description.

If one of the adjectives expresses a judgment, assessment or opinion, then the place of this adjective is before the one that gives the description:

Rule No. 3. Order of descriptive adjectives.

What if all adjectives are descriptive? The order of their use before a noun is quite flexible, but there is a certain sequence and patterns. For example, adjectives denoting material and origin always come last. Of course, it is unnatural to immediately put five or six adjectives in front of a noun, but two or three are a very real phenomenon. In English, this order must be observed; even if there are no adjectives with any of these meanings, it is not violated:

Accordingly, if, along with descriptive ones, there are classifying or evaluative adjectives, then rules 1 and 2 apply.

In place of the article, adjectives can be preceded by a numeral if you indicate quantity:

two thick grammar books
the first useful computer program

And when you need to use a numeral before adjectives, put it first ordinal, and then quantitative:

the first two important grammar rules
the first ten international students

The same rule applies to words last, next and the like:

the next three sunny hot days
his last two popular online projects

And the last point: commas. When multiple adjectives are used in a row, there is a huge temptation to separate them with commas. This is true if the adjectives provide homogeneous information about the characteristics of the subject:

a popular, well-organised, informative event
a delicious, flavored, spicy dish

If the adjectives are short and common, then commas can be omitted:

a nice sunny calm day or a nice, sunny, calm day

Often, studying adjectives does not cause any difficulties, but in any question there are pitfalls. So, for those who still experience difficulties in this topic, in this note we will analyze in detail the order of adjectives in the English language.

Type of adjectives

Everyone has learned since school that an adjective is a part of speech that describes objects, objects and other nouns. Most English adjectives come before the part of the sentence they describe. Traditionally, English distinguishes between objective and subjective adjectives.

• Objective adjectives are those that reflect facts, objective characteristics. For example, a brick house. It is a fact that the house is made of brick.
• Subjective ones convey a subjective assessment, personal perception of the described object.

Therefore, to describe the order of adjectives in an English sentence, a scheme is often used: subjective adjectives come first (because they are less important), then objective adjectives (because they are more important), then the noun.

What's going on?

But what if one noun is described by several adjectives? In this case, there is a more detailed diagram that will help you decide in what order to place the adjectives. Let's look at it:

1. So, first place is given to adjectives denoting a general opinion/impression, such as expensive, smart, delicious;
2. The following group determines the size: tiny (large\big), small (small);
3. Analyzing the order of adjectives in English, the third place is given to the adjective denoting age: young (young), old (old);
4. The fourth position is occupied by adjectives indicating shape: square;
5. Next are adjectives denoting colors: yellow;
6. This group consists of adjectives of origin: Russian;
7. This group includes adjectives that describe the material from which the item is made: brick;
8. And finally, the last (that is, the closest to the noun) are adjectives denoting the purpose: for cooking (cooking), for cleaning (cleaning).

Thus, you see that the order of adjectives in English is built according to the importance of the adjective. In this regard, paragraphs 3, 4, 5 can be swapped if the speaker wants to emphasize any quality of the subject. The main rule: the more significant the feature, the closer it is located in relation to the object.

Subtleties to remember when arranging adjectives

• If there are several adjectives of the same category, a comma is required between them;
• If there is an adjective in the superlative or comparative degree, it takes first position;
• A group of adjectives that describe a measure can be placed after a noun (a nice building 24 meters high - a beautiful 24-meter building).

In the article we will talk about adjectives - words that denote a characteristic and answer the question “which?” (yellow, interesting, tasty, etc.). Typically, English adjectives are placed before the subject, i.e.: yellow lemon, not "the lemon is yellow". Difficulties begin when there are too many adjectives.

In what order should they be placed? Let's figure it out.

1. Where to put the signs?

However, before we move on to the order of adjectives, let's look again at where they can actually be placed.

The most common pattern is adjective + noun:

The new shiny bicycle waited for me in the shop.

However, in literature, the noun + adjective scheme can be used to create an artistic effect:

The bicycle, new and shiny, waited for me in the shop.
The bicycle, new and shiny, was waiting for me in the store.

Finally, if the most important idea of ​​the sentence is to convey the attribute of the subject, then you can use the noun + verb “to be” + adjective scheme:

The bicycle in the shop was new and shiny.
The bicycle in the store was new and shiny.

2. What other signs are there?

In addition to the cases already indicated (words answering the question “which one?”), the following words can be used as signs before nouns:

• Words denoting certainty
  We are talking about articles (a/an - indefinite, the - definite), as well as words like “this”, “that” (this, that, these, those).
• Words denoting belonging
  That is, what answers the question “whose?” These are words like "my", "your", his, her (my, your, his, her), etc. And also words with “s”: John’s house, friend’s phone, etc.
• Nouns (words that answer the question “who?”, “what?”) as signs.
  There is a curious feature in the English language: if we say two objects (nouns) in a row, then the first of them plays the role of a sign!

For example:

train ticket

Train- train, ticket- ticket. It turns out to be a “train ticket” - that is, ticket on train.

flower pot

Flower- flower, pot- pot. Together - floral pot.

Such things are found everywhere: they allow you not to come up with a new word (like “floral” from “flower”), but to make the most of existing ones.

3. Adjective order

Now we come to the most important thing. In what order should we arrange all the words that we put in front of our noun?

1) Determination and belonging

Always go first

• or the article a/the,
• or words like “that” - “this” (this/that/these/those),
• or belonging (my, your, John's).

For example:

The new shiny bicycle waited for me in the shop.
A shiny new bike was waiting for me in the store.

This wonderful summer weather filled me with joy.
This The wonderful summer weather filled me with joy.

John's old blue car stayed in front of his house.
Jonova an old blue car stood in front of the house.

Note that all three points are mutually exclusive:

The my new shiny bicycle
Shiny new bike

This is the wonderful summer weather
This wonderful summer weather

The John's old blue car
John's old blue car

2) Quantity or serial number

If you want to indicate the quantity or serial number of an item, then this must be done after a/this/my etc.:

My two best friends are Jack and Linda.
My two best friends are Jack and Linda.

I like this second idea more.
I like it more this is the second one idea.

Sarah's many relatives came to her wedding.
Sarina has numerous relatives came to her wedding.

These two stunning photos are the best I"ve ever made.
These two amazing The photos are the best I've ever taken.

Many brilliant ideas appear unexpectedly.
Many brilliant ideas appear suddenly.

4) Objective signs of the subject

Now we come to the most important thing - those characteristics of an object that indicate its color, size, etc. - that is, they refer to physical characteristics that do not depend on our opinion.

The difficulty is that there can be a great many such characteristics, and here, too, there is an order:

• 4.1) size
• 4.2) shape
• 4.3) condition (what the item is at the moment: clean, dirty, wet, dry, soft, hard, etc.)
• 4.4) age
• 4.5) color
• 4.6) source (where the object comes from)
• 4.7) material
• 4.8) purpose (what the object is for)

I have a big round cooking pot for such dishes.
I have a large round cooking pot for such dishes.
(size-shape-purpose)

The garage had a rusty old green metal roof
The garage had a rusty old green metal roof.
(condition-age-color-material)

This fine big black Japanese refrigerator has worked well for 10 years.
This quality big black japanese The refrigerator worked well for ten years.
(rating-size-color-source)

5) Nouns as signs

Finally, if you decide to use a noun as one of the attributes (like train ticket), then these two objects cannot be “separated”! Nouns as attributes always stand close to the “main” noun:

I showed him my tattered white train ticket.
I showed him mine torn white ticket On the train.
(state-color-noun as a feature)

She brought home an unusual square white ceramic flower pot.
She brought home unusual square white ceramic floral pot.
(assessment-shape-color-material-noun as a feature)

Of course, the entire list presented looks a little complicated :). But in reality, you don’t have to fill out every single item: we rarely add more than three or four attributes to one item at a time.

What else can help in mastering this scheme? Make up some examples and try to remember them! This way you can use them to navigate the points. Just try to make the examples logical for you, and not just a bunch of words: try, say, to describe some object from the house that you see every day.

Native speakers, as you understand, do not have any patterns in their heads - they simply intuitively understand how to arrange the features, and if they hear them in the wrong order, it will sound strange to them. Use language more often: listen, watch, read, and then sooner or later you will also be able to rely on your own intuition.

Reinforcement task

Translate the sentences into English, arranging the signs in the correct order:

1. He sold his old large wooden cottage.
2. I love these great white soft Indian cotton throws.
3. Have you seen the small brown leather wallet?
4. I'm looking for a clear rectangular glass ashtray.
5. Where is my black old cleaning brush?
6. Throw away those ugly green old leather athletic shoes!
7. Do you like my adorable new blue diamond earrings?

So, adjectives are arranged in the following order:

adjective that expresses opinion about the subject (opinion): bad - bad, nice - pleasant, great - magnificent.

adjective describing size (size): big - large, small - small.

adjective meaning age (age): new - new, old - old, young - young.

adjective describing shape of the object (shape): oval - oval, round - round.

adjective meaning color (color): red - red, green - green.

adjective that describes origin of the item (origin): Chinese - Chinese, English - English.

adjective meaning material, from which the item is made (material): wooden - wooden, glass - glass.

adjective describing purpose of the item (purpose): washing - for washing, cooking - for preparing food.

Let's look at examples:

a big old wooden house

big old wooden house

a beautiful long red silk dress

beautiful long red silk dress

If one of the adjectives is in the comparative or superlative degree, then it is always placed before all other adjectives:

the newest American cleaning liquid

America's newest cleaning product

If it is difficult to determine the category to which the adjective belongs, then you need to remember that an adjective is placed closer to the noun, denoting a more constant attribute.