1. Adjectives/adverbs
Adjectives - word order: When there are two or
more adjectives before a noun there are some
complicated "rules" for the order in which they
should appear. These are the most important:
1. opinion adjectives come before fact adjectives
2. fact adjectives appear as follows: size - age colour - origin - material
Here are some examples:
a silly old man (an old silly man )
a beautiful blue butterfly (a blue beautiful
butterfly )
an interesting historical film (a historical
interesting film)
a huge metal box (a metal huge box )
a new red dress (a red new dress )
little Russian dolls (Russian little dolls )
You will need to consult a good reference grammar
for full details on the order of adjectives, and how
they should be punctuated.
Adjectives: -ed or -ing? English contains
numerous -ed or -ing adjective pairs derived from
verbs. To avoid mixing these up, remember that
the -edadjectives are used to describe how you feel,
and the -ing adjectives are used for what it is that
makes you feel that way. Here are some examples:
I feel tired. - Working in the garden all day is
very tiring.
I am bored. - This grammar lesson is boring.
She was disappointed. - Her math test score
was disappointing.
I'm interested in Ancient Egypt. - I think
Ancient Egypt is interesting.
He was shocked. - He found your
behaviour shocking.
I'm very confused by this film. - This film is
very confusing.
Adjective or adverb? In English most (but not all)
adverbs have a different form (spelling) than their
corresponding adjective. It is important, therefore,
that you know whether you need an adjective or an
adverb in the sentences you want to say or write.
Generally, adjectives are used to describe nouns and
adverbs are used with verbs to say how things are
done. In the following examples, the adjectives are
red and the adverbs are blue:
He's a beautiful singer. - He
sings beautifully.

2. She's a very quick runner. - She can run
very quickly.
He's a careless writer. - He writes carelessly.
She's a good worker. - She works well.
Adverbs are also used to give extra information
about adjectives (or other adverbs), as in the
following examples:
I am extremely happy in my new job.
She's in hospital with
a seriously injured neck.
It's incredibly easy to make a mistake when
knitting.
The girl climbed dangerously high up the
tree.
Because of the thick fog I drove extremely
carefully.
After certain verbs (e.g. be, become, seem, look,
taste, smell, etc.) the adjective, not the adverb, is
used:
She doesn't seem happy today.
Don't be stupid!
This meat tastes bad.
Those flowers smell strange.