Order of adjectives

1. What
are
adjectives?

3. The Acronym of Adjective Order
NOSASCOMP
N umber
O pinion
S ize
A ge
S hape
C olour
O rigin
M aterial
P urpose

4. Opinion
Siz
e
Age
An opinion adjective explains what
you think about something (other
people may not agree with you).
Examples: friendly, beautiful,
handsome, horrible, difficult,
interesting, ugly, etc.
A Size adjective, of course, tells you
how big or small something is.
Examples: large, tiny, enormous,
little, short, small, tall, high, big,
thick,thin, etc.
An Age adjective tells how young or
old something or someone is.
Examples: young, old, ancient, new.

5. Shap
e
Colour
Origin
A Shape adjective describes the
shape of something.
Examples: square, round, flat,
rectangula
r, triangle, etc.
A Colour adjective, of course, describes
the color of something.
Examples: blue, pink, reddish, grey,
white, black, etc.
An Origin adjective describes
where something comes from.
Example: French, American, eastern,

6. Material
Purpos
e
A Material adjective describes
what something is made from.
Example: wooden, metal,
cotton, paper
A Purpose adjective describes what
something is used for. These
adjectives often end with “-ing”.
Example: sleeping (as in
“sleeping bag”), roasting (as in
“roasting tin”), racing (as in
“racing car”), walking (as in
“walking stick”),etc.

7. Example
s:
● A wonderful old Italian clock.
(opinion - age - origin)
● A big square blue box.
(size - shape - colour)
● A disgusting pink plastic
ornament. (opinion - colour -
material)
● Some slim new French
trousers. (size - age - origin)

8. EXERCI
SE
Rearrange the following adjective to
make a good sentence.
Example:
She was wearing a (long, red,
beautiful) dress

9. Exercis
e
1. I found (rectangle, small, wooden)
box in my sister’s room.
2. The shop assistant put the gift
into a (brown, small, paper) bag.
3. I bought a (sexy, white,
short) dress to wear.
4. I just bought a sports (German,
black, new) car.

10. Exercis
e
5. They're showing a (action, new)
movie at the cinema tonight.
6. He wore a (blue, denim, stylish)
shirt.