Level: intermediate

Two adjectives

We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:

a handsome young man

a big black car

that horrible big dog

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any noun:

good

bad

lovely

strange nice

beautiful

brilliant

excellent awful

important

wonderful

nasty

He's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful teacher. That's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful book.

Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of noun, for example:

Food Furniture, buildings People, animals delicious

tasty comfortable

uncomfortable clever

intelligent

friendly

We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:

nice tasty soup

a nasty uncomfortable armchair

a lovely intelligent animal

We usually put an opinion adjective in front of a descriptive adjective:

a nice red dress

a silly old man

those horrible yellow curtains

Order of adjectives 1 Grouping_MTQwNzg= Order of adjectives 2 ReorderingHorizontal_MTQwNzk=

Adjectives after link verbs

We use some adjectives only after a link verb:

afraid

alive

alone

asleep

content

glad ill

ready

sorry

sure

unable

well

Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:

annoyed

bored

finished

pleased

thrilled

We say:

Our teacher was ill.

My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.

The policeman seemed to be very annoyed.

but we do not say:

We had an ill teacher .

When he heard the news he was a very glad uncle .

He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman.

Order of adjectives 3 MultipleChoice_MTQwODE=

Level: advanced

Three or more adjectives

Sometimes we have three adjectives in front of a noun, but this is unusual:

a nice handsome young man

a big black American car

that horrible big fierce dog

It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.

Adjectives usually come in this order:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 General opinion Specific opinion Size Shape Age Colour Nationality Material

Order of adjectives 4­ ReorderingHorizontal_MTQwODI=

Adjectives in front of nouns

A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:

north

south

east

west northern

southern

eastern

western countless

occasional

lone

mere indoor

outdoor





We say:

He lives in the eastern district.

There were countless problems with the new machinery.

but we do not say: