Page 43 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

an old the latest a green
leather
political educational wine dancing
idea (NOT a f'6litieal 61tl idea)
reform (NOT the etlrteaMnallatest 1'efo. ill) bottle(NOTatHine~nh6ttle)
shoes (NOT daneing lertther mBeS)
size age
a fat old a big
noun
horse sweater boots handbag mug house
shape
round a little modern square
4 numbers
colour
white grey
black brown
origin
Italian German
material
woollen
leather glass brick
a small
an
enormous
new
Numbers usually go before adjectives.
six large eggs the second big shock
First, next and last most often go before one, two, three etc.
the first three days (More common than the three first days) my last two jobs
adjectives (4): order before nouns 15
15 adjectives (4): order before nouns
When several adjectives come before a noun (or when nouns are used like adjectives before another noun), they are usually put in a more or less fixed order. For instance, we say a fat old lady, NOT an 61tl fat lady; a small round black leather handbag, NOT a lertther- hlat:1e fflftM slftall hantibaK. Here are the most important rules.
1 description before classification: an old political idea
Words which describe come before words which classify (say what type of
thing we are talking abOUt). description classification noun
2 opinion before description: a wonderful old house
Words which express opinions, attitudes and judgements usually come before words that simply describe. Examples are lovely, definite, pure, absolute, extreme, perfect, wonderful, silly.
opinion description noun
a lovely cool a wonderful old
beautiful green that silly fat
drink (NOT a e66116f!ely Mirtle)
house (N OT an 6lti ttl6ntl:erJitl h6rtSe) mountains (NOT ~en heaftft}id 1ft6ftntains) cat (NOT that fat silly eat)
3 order of descriptive words
The order of descriptive words is not completely fixed. Words for origin and material usually come last. Words for size, age, shape and colour often come in that order.
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