Grammar Spod - Adjectives in Order

In this issue we will be looking at a tricky bit of grammar that most British people aren’t even aware of: it comes naturally to us and we do it without thinking.

When describing the qualities of a noun we know that we need to use adjectives, but if you want to use a number of adjectives to describe the object there are, believe it or not, rules that govern in which order they come.

For example, in English we do not say “I have a pair of leather, lovely, red, Spanish riding boots” the adjectives are correct but they are in the wrong order! The correct order should be “lovely, red, Spanish, leather riding boots”.

“So how do I know what order to use?” I hear you cry in frustration… well, a very general rule to help you is that the first adjectives you use are subjective (your opinion) and the last adjectives are objective (facts).

The exact grammar rules are a bit vague to be honest, no-one has ever written the definitive rules but if you follow these steps you’ll be ok…

1.    opinion (how good or bad it is) – wonderful, terrible, fantastic
2.    size (how big or small it is) – huge, tiny, enormous
3.    Other (adjectives that don’t fit in the other categories) – fast, hot, lazy, soft
4.    age (how young or old it is) – young, antique, ancient, modern
5.    colour – red, blue, yellow
6.    origin (where it comes from) – American, German, French
7.    material (what it’s made of) – metal, plastic, paper
8.    type (what kind it is) – BUS ticket
9.    purpose (what it’s for) – BREAD knife

Countess Grammar AM