It’s Not a Red Little Corvette: Adjective Order

Do you ever wonder why we say “little blue ranch-style home” instead of “ranch-style blue little home” or “beautiful large antique blue Persian rug” rather than “Persian blue antique large beautiful rug?”

The answer is a rule that most of us don’t know we are following, or even realize exists: Adjective Order.

Adjective order is how we place adjectives in a sentence. Without realizing it, English speakers follow this rule without thinking about it, learning it or knowing why we are doing it.

Adjective order is not something we are formally taught; it is ingrained in us from the first words we hear and speak and through adulthood. We just know that it should be “antique gold pocket watch” rather than “pocket gold antique watch” without formally learning a rule. Adjectives in their proper order makes sense and sound right; adjectives out of order may make sense, but it just sounds wrong to native speakers’ ears.

Adjective Order

Order	Category
1	Quantity
2	Opinion/Observation
3	Size and shape
4	Physical condition/Quality
5	Age
6	Color/Pattern
7	Origin
8	Material
9	Qualifier

Quantity

The quantity adjective tells us how many of something we are discussing. For example: few, many, two, dozen, multitude

The two chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Opinion/Observation

The opinion/observation adjectives tells us how you feel about something. For example: shoddy, ugly, lovely, unique, expensive, intelligent, interesting

The two beautiful chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Size/Shape

The size/shape adjective tells the reader the size and shape of something. For example: square, spherical, giant, tiny, fat

The two beautiful large chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Physical Condition/Quality

The physical condition/quality adjective tells us about the physical condition or state of something. For example: clean, dirty, hungry, poor

The two beautiful large comfortable chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Age

The age adjective tells us how old something is. For example: new, older, ancient

The two beautiful large pristine antique chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Color/Pattern

The color/pattern adjective describes the color and pattern of something. For example: reddish, gray, striped, plaid, checked, multi–colored

The two beautiful large pristine antique squat red chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Origin

The origin adjective describes the source of something. The can include physical locations, religions, cultures, or any other origin. For example: American, Chinese, Hindi, Catholic

The two beautiful large pristine antique squat red French chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Material

The material adjective tells the reader what the item is made of. For example: wooden, metal, silk, cotton, gold, plastic

The two beautiful large pristine antique squat red French velvet chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Qualifier/Purpose

The qualifier/purpose adjective tells the reader what something is used for or its purpose. This adjective is closely tied to the noun. For example: sewing machine, sleeping bag, police car, shopping bag

The two beautiful large pristine antique squat red French velvet reading chairs sat in my Grandmother’s sitting room as long as I can remember.

Can You Break the Adjective Order Rule?

Of course!

Changing the order of your adjectives can help you emphasize specific descriptors in your sentence. For example, adjective order tells us that we should write, “the round red metal table.” However, if you are trying to differentiate between multiple round metal tables, but specifically want the red one, you would say, “the red round metal table.” Many writers shift adjective order to give their writing a sense of spontaneity and improvisation, such as if someone described a “yellow blazing summer sun.”

Cumulative vs. Coordinating Adjectives and Commas

When you combine adjectives from different categories, they act as cumulative adjectives—adjectives that build on each other and works as a unit to describe the same thing. When you are combining adjectives from different categories, you do not need a comma between the adjectives.

For example:

The two big old black-and-white cats yowled all night in the alley.

Coordinating adjectives, on the other hand, may describe the same thing, but are independent descriptions of that thing. Coordinating adjectives come from the same category, so you are joining one or more opinion adjectives, physical quality adjectives, material adjectives, etc., in your sentence. With coordinating adjectives from the same category, you would include a comma between the adjectives in your sentence.