Adjective Order

A veces utilizamos dos adjetivos juntos:

- My parents live in a beautiful new house

- A dirty old black cat is wandering the streets

A / 'OPINION' ADJECTIVES 

    Adjetivos como “beautiful” y “dirty” son adjetivos de opinión y van antes de adjetivos de hecho.

B /   Adjetivos de Hecho

      Adjetivos como “new, old, black” son adjetivos de hecho y nos cuentan información sobre edad, color, tamaño, forma, material, o propósito.

      A veces usamos dos adjetivos de hecho o más y van en este orden:

1  /   SIZE  :       How big is it?         Large, small, tiny, enormous

2 /     AGE   :      How old is it?           New, young, old, ancient

3 /    SHAPE :    What is its shape?     Square, round, rectangular, flat

4 / COLOR :    What color is it?      Blue, pink, yellow, crimson

5 /  ORIGIN :    Where is it from?      English, American, Chinese, French

6 / MATERIAL: What is it made of?    Plastic, cardboard, glass, wooden

7 / PURPOSE : What it is used for?    Racing car, frying pan, rocking chair 

1 / Tamaño: Cómo es de grande? Grande, pequeño, minúsculo, enorme
2 / EDAD: ¿Cuántos años tiene? Nuevo, joven, viejo, antiguo
3 / FORMA: ¿Cuál es su forma? Cuadrada, redonda, rectangular, plano
4 / COLOR: ¿De qué color es? Azul, rosa, amarillo, carmesí
5 / ORIGEN: ¿De dónde es? Inglés, americano, chino, francés
6 / MATERIAL: Lo que está hecha? Plástico, cartón, vidrio, madera
7 / PROPÓSITO: ¿Para qué se utiliza? Carreras de coches, sartén, mecedora

Ejemplos : 

-  An interesting (opinión ) old (2)  book

-  An ugly (opinion) pink (4 ) plastic (6) ornament 

-  A nice (opinion) small (1) African (5) drum

-  A delicious (opinion) round (3) chocolate (6) cake

-  A pair of smart( opinion) brown  (4) leather (6) boots

-  A beautiful (opinion) small (1) white (4) Chinese (5 ) computer

-  A nice (opinion) big (1) old (2) square (3) white (4) French (5) china (6) plate *

 *  This last example comes from the BBC site, but we do not usually put more than three adjectives together!

   When there are two color adjectives, we use and :

-  A big green and yellow hat

Questions:

1) At home there is a __________________ table in the dining room.
[ ]wooden beautiful square
[ ]beautiful wooden square
[ ]beautiful square wooden

2) I was offered __________________ ring by my husband.
[ ]a gold  unusual
[ ]an unusual gold

3) My grandmother has knitted __________________ pullover for me.
[ ]a new nice woollen
[ ]a nice new woollen
[ ]a woollen new nice

4) I saw __________________ movie with friends at home.
[ ]An old American interesting
[ ]An American old interesting
[ ]an interesting old American

5) It may rain ! There are __________________ clouds floating in the air.
[ ]black big
[ ]big black

6) It was such __________________ day that we decided to go out for a walk.
[ ]a sunny lovely
[ ]a lovely sunny

7) My daughter has __________________ hair.
[ ]beautiful long black
[ ]black long beautiful
[ ]long beautiful black

8) Last week, I visited __________________ village in a remote place.
[ ]an old lovely little
[ ]a lovely little old
[ ]a little lovely old

9) The gallery exhibited mainly __________________ paintings.
[ ]old strange French
[ ]French old strange
[ ]strange old French

10) John was given __________________ kitten by his sister
[ ]a little black adorable
[ ]a black little adorable
[ ]an adorable little black

11) It started to rain so I opened __________________ umbrella
[ ]an enormous red and yellow
[ ]an enormous red yellow
[ ]a red and yellow enormous

12) I came into a __________________ house built in 1860
[ ]old picturesque
[ ]picturesque old

13) A __________________ was parked opposite my house.
[ ]  new Italian shiny sports car
[ ]  shiny Italian new sports car
[ ]shiny new Italian sports car

ANSWERS:

1. beautiful square wooden
2. an unusual gold
3. a nice new woollen
4. an interesting old American
5. big black
6. a lovely sunny
7. beautiful long black
8. a lovely little old
9. strange old French
10. an adorable little black
11. an enormous red and yellow
12. picturesque old
13. shiny new Italian sports car

More Exercises:

1. He was wearing a ________ shirt.

  dirty old flannel

  flannel old dirty

  old dirty flannel

(vieja franela sucia)

2. Pass me the ________ cups.

  plastic big blue

  big blue plastic

  big plastic blue

(azul grande de plástico)

3. All the girls fell in love with the ________ teacher.

  handsome new American

  American new handsome

  new handsome American

4. I used to drive ________ car.

  a blue old German

  an old German blue

  an old blue German

5. He recently married a ________ woman.

  young beautiful Greek

  beautiful young Greek

  beautiful Greek young

6. This is a ________ movie.

  new Italian wonderful

  wonderful Italian new

  wonderful new Italian

(nuevo y maravilloso italiano)

7. She is a ________ supermodel.

  beautiful slim Brazilian

  Brazilian beautiful slim

  slim Brazilian beautiful

(hermosa delgada brasileña)

8. It's in the ________ container.

  large blue metal

  blue large metal

  blue metal large

9. He sat behind a ________ desk.

  big wooden brown

  big brown wooden

  wooden big brown

10. She gave him a ________ vase.

  small Egyptian black

  black Egyptian small

  small black Egyptian

Answers:

He was wearing a dirty old flannel shirt.

Pass me the big blue plastic cups.

All the girls fell in love with the handsome new American teacher.

I used to drive an old blue German car.

He recently married a beautiful young Greek woman.

This is a wonderful new Italian movie.

She is a beautiful slim Brazilian supermodel.

It's in the large blue metal container.

He sat behind a big brown wooden desk.

She gave him a small black Egyptian vase.