Adjective Order

When two or more adjectives are used to describe something they are put in a certain order. For example, opinions come before facts.

Nice, beautiful and handsome are opinions. Young, new, long and black are facts. Opinions come first. Size comes before age. Age comes before color. The following chart show the basic order of adjectives, but you should know that sometimes this order is not followed.

[NOTE IN THE ABOVE CHART “shape” (round, square) should be put between “age” and “color”, and the “noun” column should be separated from the other columns, with a + inserted.]

Example:
We rented a nice little brown log cabin by a lake.

Note: We usually limit the number of adjectives preceding a noun to three.

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