Adjective Word Order

Poor
Okay
Good
Great
Awesome

The use of adjectives is essential when trying to describe a noun or pronoun. Good writers and speakers are
able to use adjectives to create clear, mental images for the reader or listener. As you continue to work on your
English, don’t be afraid to use multiple adjectives to describe something. Using more than three physically
descriptive type adjectives in sequence to describe one noun or pronoun would sound a little awkward. When
using multiple adjectives in a sequence, you must be aware of the correct adjective order. The proper order of
adjectives is listed below along with some examples for each category.

1. Determiners – a, an, the, my, your, several, etc.

2. Observations – lovely, boring, stimulating, etc.
3. Size – tiny, small, huge, etc.
4. Shape – round, square, rectangular, etc.
5. Age – old, new, ancient, etc.
6. Color – red, blue, green, etc.
7. Origin – British, American, Mexican, etc.
8. Material – gold, copper, silk, etc.
9. Qualifier – limiters for compound nouns.

Here are some examples:

"The interesting, small, rectangular, blue car is parked in my space."

"I bought a beautiful, long, red, Italian, silk tie."
"My father lives in a lovely, gigantic, ancient, brick house."
"I have an annoying, small, circular, American, tin, alarm clock that wakes me up."
"Let’s order a delicious, huge, rectangular, pepperoni pizza."
"We all love our smart, petite, British teacher."
"They all received several dazzling, small, ancient, gold coins."
"She owns a stunning, large, old, brown dog named Boris."

Have you ever wondered why we instinctively say “the shiny new red car” and not “the red new shiny car”?
The reason is that there is a royal order for adjectives, and most native English speakers learn to use it as we’re
forming our first complete sentences.

Adjectives fall into categories, and those categories comprise the royal order:

Determiner (articles and other limiters: the book, your car)

Observation or opinion (a genuine fraud, an interesting book, an expensive watch)

Size and Shape (tiny, fat, square)

Age (young, old, new)

Color (blue, sea-green)

Origin (American, Chinese)

Material (describing what something is made of: silk, copper, wooden)

Qualifier (final adjective, often an integral part of the noun: vacation resort, wedding dress, race car)

Typically, writers know better than to string together more than two or three adjectives at a time, and we don’t
seem to struggle too much in getter their order straight. Where it gets confusing is in deciding when to use
commas to separate a string of adjectives.

You probably already know that equal adjectives should be separated by commas, as in this example:

The singer wore a beaded, feathered costume.

“Beaded” and “feathered” are equal adjectives, ones that belong to the same category (material) in the royal
order. You could switch their position, and the rhythm of the sentence would still be correct.

However, when you create a string of adjectives, be mindful of both their proper order and of the fact that you
needn’t use commas to separate adjectives of a different category.

The singer wore an antique purple beaded, feathered costume.

Only one comma is necessary in the above sentence because “beaded” and “feathered” are the only adjectives
belonging to the same category.

If you’re ever in doubt about where to place commas in a string of adjectives, refer to the royal order. It’ll be
your faithful guide.