Order of adjectives

ratóncolorao · Oct 7, 2011

Hello,

As far as I know, the usual order of adjectives is:

opinion - age - size/shape - temperature - colour - origin - material - purpose + noun

However, I have seen a new list of adjectives that goes as follow:

Opinion - size or ___________, texture, pattern or ___________, ___________+ noun

I think the book where I have seen this list makes a reference to: patterns, shape, texture, materials and "others" - including, in this last category, adjectives such as "high-heeled" and "long-sleeved".

So, I wonder if you could help me out with this new (for me) list of adjectives. Obviously, I don't know which type of adjective should go in the different gaps.

Thank you for your help.

ratóncolorao · Oct 7, 2011

Hello again,

Could it be listed as:

Opinion, size or shape, texture, pattern or texture, colour + noun ?

Anyway, adjectives such as "high-heeled" or "long-sleeved" where should they go?

Thank you.

bhaisahab · Oct 7, 2011

ratóncolorao said:
Hello again,

Could it be listed as:

Opinion, size or shape, texture, pattern or texture, colour + noun ?

Anyway, adjectives such as "high-heeled" or "long-sleeved" where should they go?

Thank you.

"A blue, size 38, long-sleeved woollen sweater." Is that what you mean?

ratóncolorao · Oct 7, 2011

bhaisahab said:
"A blue, size 38, long-sleeved woollen sweater." Is that what you mean?

Yes, I was asking if I am right listing the adjective that way...

Thank you. Your example is great. :-D

TheParser · Oct 7, 2011

ratóncolorao said:
NOT A TEACHER

(1) The order of adjectives confuses me, too.

(2) I found two more lists that might give you some added insight.

(3) They are both credited to The Grammar Book by Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman.

1.determiner (The) 2. subjective or evaluative adjective (poor) 3. measurement (little) 4. coloration (pink) 5, material (plastic) 6. head noun (doll). Another example: An ugly old black wooden statue.

***

1, determiner (an) 2. opinion (ugly) 3. size (big) 4. shape (round) 5. condition (chipped) 6. age (old) 7. color (blue) 8. origin/material (French) 9. noun (vase).

(4) Could we say: A beautiful medium-sized long-sleeved new red cotton shirt.

I do not know. What do you think?

5jj · Oct 7, 2011

TheParser said:
(4) Could we say: A beautiful medium-sized long-sleeved new red cotton shirt.

I do not know. What do you think?

I think we would be unlikely to, but we could.

ratóncolorao · Oct 7, 2011

TheParser said:
ratóncolorao said:

NOT A TEACHER

(1) The order of adjectives confuses me, too.

(2) I found two more lists that might give you some added insight.

(3) They are both credited to The Grammar Book by Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman.

1.determiner (The) 2. subjective or evaluative adjective (poor) 3. measurement (little) 4. coloration (pink) 5, material (plastic) 6. head noun (doll). Another example: An ugly old black wooden statue.

***

1, determiner (an) 2. opinion (ugly) 3. size (big) 4. shape (round) 5. condition (chipped) 6. age (old) 7. color (blue) 8. origin/material (French) 9. noun (vase).

(4) Could we say: A beautiful medium-sized long-sleeved new red cotton shirt.

I do not know. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Do you really speak like that in everyday language, or is it just for books? I wonder if it is only for us - foreigners - to become crazy....:-D

Thank you for your answer

TheParser · Oct 7, 2011

ratóncolorao said:
TheParser said:

Do you really speak like that in everyday language, or is it just for books? I wonder if it is only for us - foreigners - to become crazy....:-D

NOT A TEACHER

The two scholars whom I cited mention two other scholars (Praninskas and Svatko) who

remind us "that sequences of more than three adjectives SELDOM [my emphasis] occur
in speech or writing and that two-adjective sequences are the most typical ones."

As Teacher Fivejedjon so diplomatically and gently put it, my made-up example in my first post is "unlikely." (Brutal translation: "absurd")

Click to expand...

5jj · Oct 7, 2011

TheParser said:
As Teacher Fivejedjon so diplomatically and gently put it, my made-up example in my first post is "unlikely." (Brutal translation: "absurd")

'Absurd' is a little harsh.

It is a good example of how the adjectives would be ordered if we were ever to want to use so many, and it is a possible English sentence. It is probably more useful as an example than this set:

A beautiful new red cotton shirt.
A medium-sized long-sleeved cotton shirt.
A beautiful long-sleeved red shirt.
A medium-sized long-sleeved red cotton shirt.
A long-sleeved new red cotton shirt.
A beautiful long-sleeved new cotton shirt. ...etcetc.

We are more likely to hear these than your example, but they are not so helpful in picturing how we order adjectives.

ratóncolorao · Oct 9, 2011

Hello,

I wonder if the pre-established order for adjectives is a very strict rule… here I write one example I have just seen while reading one article on the BBC page:

BBC News - Sir Paul McCartney marries US heiress Nancy Shevell

“Ms Shevell wore a white, long-sleeved dress…..” while in the examples given by The Parser and Fivejedjon the colour comes after the adjective “long-sleeved” – following very precisely the rule.
Now, paying closer attention to the example given by Bhaisahab, we see that he also puts the colour in the first place: “A blue, size 38, long-sleeved….”

So, is there a strict rule to follow? Or, on the contrary, it is not very striking to see a different order depending on the situation, on the adjectives themselves, etc.....

I would like to know about it in order not to feel too confused in case of forgetting which one comes first.

Thank you very much.

5jj · Oct 9, 2011

It is far from a strict rule. In fact, there is no 'rule' at all. There are simply observations on how native speakers generally order adjectives. In my speech, I possibly put 'new' in a different position from the one TheParser chose. I did not comment on this, because the suggestions TheParser made were generally useful.

Order of adjectives

ratóncolorao

Member

ratóncolorao

Member

bhaisahab

Moderator

ratóncolorao

Member

TheParser

VIP Member

5jj

Moderator

ratóncolorao

Member

TheParser

VIP Member

5jj

Moderator

ratóncolorao

Member

5jj

Moderator

Similar threads