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Order of Adjectives – Speak and Write like a Native English Speaker
Believe it or not, there is a specific order that adjectives follow when English speakers are describing something. In this lesson, I discuss this order, so you will never have to feel embarrassed about your word order again. This is helpful in writing, as well as speaking. Please take the quiz below the lesson and test your understanding.
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Quiz
Test your understanding of this English lesson
Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.
Comments
52 Comments on “Order of Adjectives – Speak and Write like a Native English Speaker”
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ichan
u r great teacher
Selu
Hi,
This class is very useful to all students who r listening yr class
Palmy
hi, Alex
I have a question about a example that you had been raised.
” The old boring physic T-shrit” why do you put the word “old” first which is an age. Isn’t it come behind opinion which is a boring?
well, maybe I am worng!
By the way, your class is very interesting! thank you.
I mentioned in the video that these rules do not ALWAYS apply, but that they are a good guide to use. Usually, it depends on what you want to emphasize the most in your description.
AlexESLvid
nelson
good for me
thanks
akram
THANKS FOR THE USEFULL INFO. BUT DO NOT YOU THINK IS DIFFICULT TO MEMORIZE THE ADJ. ORDER
I agree that it is not an easy task, but with more practice and exposure to the language, the order soon becomes second nature!
AlexESLvid
tuan_kkt
Actually I’ve learned this problem many times but I still feel confused ! I think the problem is how do we REMEMBER the order ?
Thank you anyway !
I realize that remembering the order is very difficult. Some native English speakers often get confused with it as well, so try not to worry too much. With more practice and exposure to the language, you will get it!
AlexESLvid
Judoist_KBTU
Dear Alex.
I found very useful this big your lesson! =) I think that it is very common mistake that people made in speaking. It would be very great to have a lesson from you more about ORDER in both English speaking and writing.
Thank you very much!
Amir from Kazakhstan!
Dear tuan_kkt.
The better way to be right in order is good reading skills; I mean you should read more. In this case it is automatically orders in your brain.
Kindly regards
Amir.
Judoist_KBTU
sohail
your opinion about something can be justified by these orders.
Abdulkarim
Thank you very much.
This is a good, Canadian, learning lesson.
This is a good, Canadian, learning English lesson.
Could I say both of them?
Thank you.
Victor
Greetings!
One of the “rules” that you have discussed in your lecture on using commas is applicable here too: separating adjectives with commas. Apparently that rule is in contradiction with the one described here in Purdue: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/
6. Use commas to separate two or more coordinate adjectives that describe the same noun. Be sure never to add an extra comma between the final adjective and the noun itself or to use commas with non-coordinate adjectives.
Coordinate adjectives are adjectives with equal (“co”-ordinate) status in describing the noun; neither adjective is subordinate to the other. You can decide if two adjectives in a row are coordinate by asking the following questions:
* Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written in reverse order?
* Does the sentence make sense if the adjectives are written with and between them?
My guess is that you wanted to simplify the rule for learners, but, as it seems, that makes it go wrong.
Thanks in advance for your explanation.
Hi Victor,
Apologies for the very late reply. I have personally found the rule to be so inconsistently used, and have found both ways used in literature. I do think typing a sentence like “He is a tall, handsome man” looks better than “He is a tall, handsome, man,” but that in actual speech, the second sounds better.
AlexESLvid
Judoist_KBTU
Dear Alex.
I have a question. What do you mean when you say “opinion”? Can you show in example please?
kindly regards
Amir
An opinion is something that you believe about something else. For example, you might think dogs are cute. I might think they are ugly. These are our opinions. If you need more examples, please let me know. Thank you for commenting!
AlexESLvid
Reynaldo
Thasnks for this interesting,big,new,lesson!I hope to learn it so well as faster.
Excuseme it´s not thasnks it´s thanks,jejejejej.
Reynaldo
Dickson Neo Jia Xuan
Aren’t you awesome? i could only say,marvalleous,awesome,great,fantastic,intresting,addicting,flunt, unbeliveable
Alena
I didn’t make any mistake, because I’m clever and, of course, because you are a great, young, English teacher! :-)
Bong
Should it be ‘The boring (Opinion), old (age), Physics (Purpose) teacher?
Anyway, very good. Thanks a lot.
almaz
thanks very mach alex
Yin
I memorize your adjectives in serial letters , O,S,A,S,C,M,O,P .
teacher Alex, is it sutible to memorize like that? or do you have any other ways to memorize easier way?
and in the lecture, 1st is the Opinion , can I have some examples about it?
I took the quiz and got only 75% this time, I used to get 100% in your other quizs after listening your great lectures.could you please explain me about “nice”, in which number should I put nice and the similar adjectives like good, bad and other words.
thank you so much teacher Alex. I’d learnt many from you indeed.
It depends which quality you want to emphasize. Words like good, bad, nice, ugly, pretty, beautiful, wonderful, and the like are all opinion words. If you want to use more than one opinion word, it is up to you to decide which one you want to place first.
That is a smelly, ugly car!
OR
That is an ugly, smelly car!
I hope this helps.
AlexESLvid
Ana
It really was very useful for me. Thank you so much indeed. =D
Rogerio França
Great!!!!
alexmarti
This is a great lesson thank you. but a little hard to remember the order
Caryl Grace
uhm…..you are so interesting thankz…
nadeem
Alex…
Thanks for providing such great lessons. I am non-native English writer who faces difficulty in writing English with pure native English style. There are some grammatical errors that my clients mention after reviewing my work. What Can I do? Please give me some plan to work on? I need some real good grammar book or something to help me writer better English. My ultimate aim is to write exactly like an English writer.
I would love if you can review one article of mine and point out where I am falling behind.
Thanks
nadeem
Halima
Hi AlexESLvid :
Thank u very much for useful website I really like. But I want to ask u I have done all the video but I don’t know how to get the new video can u plz Explain to me.
Thank u once again.
Derry
Hi Alex, I like your Video explaining about the order of adjectives because it helps me to apply the way you teach and explain the material in a classroom. Thx
baring18
where can i watch the video of pre-nominal modifiers?please reply asap!
constantin
Thank you from Romania. You have great pedagogic skills.
huyen
i’m so grateful to you for teaching us an useful lesson .But can you teach me some tips to remember it.I don’t have a good memory
Seungho
thank you Alex!
Pavoreal
Great lesson Alex thank you.
ktzzr
Thank you Alex
BAL CHAN
NICE TO MEET YOU MR ALEX,I LIKE SO MUCH FOR YOUR TEACHING ENGLISH SKILL,I COME FROM MYANMAR,I LIVE IN OMAN,WISH YOU GOOD LUCK,
YOUR LOVING STEF,
george
in fact this lissen realy hard to be understood
demir
i didnt understand nothing….
Ayman
Thanks , Your a perfect teacher.
Nebil
hi,
In thefirst example in the quiz, the correct answer should have been:
The blue American metal car
abdulmalik alnoaman
Very great teacher, I understood the lesson, but some times i do not concenterate about adjectives order while speaking!!! don’t you?
Manny ledger
Most of the time When I want to write something, I found it very difficult to put it together in head
Akash Hans
Sir Alex Can you please give me some examples about the origin in Adjective?
eeae
You’re a clever, Canadian, English teacher.
cutie369
I don’t know about this ordering adjectives before. It’s a bit hard,and confusing, but you made it simple, and easy to understand.
It’s a big help. Thanks.
zara
Thank you very much that was a wonderful lesson,and it really helped me,please i have a problem which is when iam talkin usually i don’t use new words.and i also don’t remember the word i took like yesterday so what is your advice please thank you once again i really appretiate your kindness
Linden Lee
Thanks for your very helpful lesson!
peena
dear sir Alex,i hav been takin ur classes n ur teaching style is awesum,u r a great teacher,thanx for such good classes
Saljan
hi alex. i like your teaching. very interesting and very simple. i learn a lot from your lessons. thank you very much for the effort (is there any mistake in the above sentences? pls comment. i am a beginner english speaker)