This document provides guidelines for adjective order in English. It states that articles, possessives, quantifiers, numbers, and demonstratives should come first when using adjectives before nouns. Next it discusses number placement and first order adjectives. It then explains that opinion adjectives should come before fact adjectives. Finally, it provides examples of common adjective orders and categories of fact adjectives including size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose.

1. ADJECTIVE ORDER
and other words that come before
nouns
EVA

2. Article, Possessive, Quantifier,
Number, or Demonstrative First!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
a/an
the
my
their
some
many
any
this
those
etc.

3. Number after article (or in place
of)
• Three (e.g., The three students at the
front of the class were early.)
• First (e.g., The one thing I learned was
how to smile.)
• Many- used with plurals (e.g., There are
many mountains in Canada.)
• Some- usually used with uncountable
nouns (e.g., I would like some water.)

4. First Orders
•
•
•
•
•
•
Possessive OR article- a/n, the
first, next and last (previous)
numbers-one, two, three, etc.
The first three days
His last two jobs
My next holiday

5. Next-Opinions before Facts!
• 'OPINION' ADJECTIVES
•
Adjectives like beautiful and nice are
opinion adjectives. They tell us what
you think about somebody or
something.
• 'FACT' ADJECTIVES
•
Adjectives like new, large, and blue
are fact adjectives. They give us
factual information about age, size, and
color.

6. Examples of opinion before fact:
• - an interesting (opinion) old (fact)
•
•
•
•
•
book
- some refreshing (o) cool (f ) water
- A nice (o) Spanish (f) guitar
- A delicious (o) chocolate (f) cake
- a pair of classy (o) leather (f) shoes
- A beautiful (opinion) small (f) yellow
(f) Chinese (f) doll

7. Fact Adjectives (there are many, many
categories – here are some of them):
• SIZE: How big? Large, small, tiny,
enormous
• AGE: How old? New, young, old,
ancient
• SHAPE: What shape? Square, round,
rectangular, flat
• COLOUR: What color? Blue, pink,
yellow, green
• ORIGIN: Where from? Thai, Canadian,
American, Chinese
• MATERIAL: What it is made of? Plastic,
metal, glass, wooden
• PURPOSE : What it is used for? Racing

8. Adjective Order (examples):
• a wonderful old Italian clock (opinion -
age - origin)
• two big square blue boxes (dimension -
shape - color)
• fresh blue cotton sheets (opinion -
color - material)
• a pair of slim new French pants
(dimension - age - origin)

9. Although there are exceptions, adjectives of
size and shape often come first.
• The round glass table (NOT the glass
round table)
• A big, modern brick house (NOT a
modern, big brick house)
• A pair of Long steel poles
• A tall, ancient oak tree

10. Adjectives of color, origin, material
and purpose usually go in that order.
• Color origin material purpose noun
red
Spanish leather riding boots
brown German
beer
mug
Venetian glass flower vase

11. Too Much to Remember?
• Probably, but practice will help
• Try not to use too many
adjectives at once!
• If you can’t remember, use a
chart!