ORDER OF ADJECTIVES OPINION – SIZE - SHAPE - AGE - COLOUR - ORIGIN - MATERIAL - NOUN COMMAS: Between Coordinate Adjectives Coordinate adjectives are those that carry equal weight—like co-workers in an organization It doesn't matter which comes first because they both have equal emphasis It does not matter which order coordinate adjectives appear in EXAMPLE: Willy had a long, bushy beard Willy had a bushy, long beard It does not matter which comes first: long or bushy These are coordinate adjectives Notice the comma between the adjectives NOT Between Cumulative Adjectives Cumulative adjectives build their meaning in one particular order You can not switch them around and still make sense EXAMPLE: Willy wore his black basketball shoes Willy wore his basketball black shoes (This sounds silly, doesn't it?) The order of black and basketball does matter; black must appear first in the sentence These are cumulative adjectives: they build their meaning in one order only Notice there is no comma between them Arrange the adjectives in the right order: 1.- There was _ outside the house (a dog, black, terrifying, huge) 2.- I gave her _ for her birthday (some handkerchiefs, beautiful, white, cotton) 3.- There was _ hanging on the wall (a picture, old, wonderful, Impressionist) 4.- Have you seen lying on the floor? (a pair of gloves, brown, leather) 5.- She was wearing (a sweater, winter, woolen) 6.- There is _ in this town (a church, Gothic, very old) 7.- My mother bought _ for the picnic (several plates, plastic, blue, small) 8.- didn’t feel comfortable living with the British family (the girl, French, fifteen-year-old) 9.- There were _ on the shelf (a lot of ornaments, china, little, useless) 10.- Why don’t you wear _ It’s rather cold (your coat, thick, fur) Choose the right option: a a cotton dirty old tie b a dirty cotton old tie c an old cotton dirty tie d a dirty old cotton tie a b c d a a a a small Japanese serving Japanese small serving small serving Japanese serving small Japanese bowl bowl bowl bowl a b c d a a a a red big plastic big red plastic plastic big red big plastic red a b c d an new French exciting band a French new exciting band an exciting French new band an exciting new French band hat hat hat hat a b c d an old wooden square table a square wooden old table an old square wooden table a wooden old square table a b c d a a a a beautiful blue sailing blue beautiful sailing sailing beautiful blue blue sailing beautiful a b c d a a a a carving steel new new steel carving steel new carving new carving steel a b c d a a a a small Canadian thin Canadian small thin small thin Canadian thin small Canadian boat boat boat boat knife knife knife knife lady lady lady lady Order the words in the boxes _ my _ teache horribl old maths dirty r e _ blac small box ebony a old k _ new a perfect system _ 18th century a Scottish fantastic castle 10 _ a businessman man a short friendly young _ horribl greedy e 11 _ a big old brown bear old our headmaster boring _ wooden dark a tabl long 12 _ citizen selfrighteous a middle-class e _ 13 _ spoil boy nasty a little t city a Italian beautiful old _ arts nice teache new our French r 14 _ American gorgeous blond-haired a girl EXERCISE 1 There Was a terrifying huge black dog … I gave her some beautiful white cotton handkerchiefs… There was a wonderful old Impressionist picture… Have you seen a pair of brown leather gloves… She was wearing a winter woollen sweater … There is a very old Gothic church … My mother bought several small blue plastic plates … The fifteen-year-old French girl … There were a lot of useless little china ornaments … 10 Why don’t you wear your thick fur coat … EXERCISE d a b d c a b c EXERCISE My horrible dirty old maths teacher a small old black ebony box a friendly short young man our boring old headmaster a long dark wooden table a beautiful old Italian city our nice new French arts teacher a perfect new system a fantastic 18th century Scottish castle 10 A horrible greedy businessman 11 a big old brown bear 12 a self-righteous middle-class citizen 13 a nasty spoilt little boy 14 a gorgeous blond-haired American girl