On this page, you will find our worksheets, games and activities relating to the concept of ‘order of adjectives’. Please bear with us while we are overhauling our website and all our content. We will post more ESL worksheets and activities soon.
Recap
In English, the order of adjectives is important, when using more than one adjective before a noun. For example, the following phrase sounds odd in English:
❌ A wooden red small spoon.
Instead, using the correct sequence of adjectives gives a more pleasing-sounding sentence:
✅ A small red wooden spoon.
The following table demonstrates adjective order for all types of adjectives. Note that, when using a particular adjective for emphasis (such as ‘amazing’), that adjective would usually override other adjectives and be placed first.
Order | Relating to | Example |
1 | opinion | lovely, beautiful, unusual |
2 | size | big, small, tall |
3 | physical quality | thin, rough, untidy |
4 | shape | round, square, triangular |
5 | age | young, old, ancient |
6 | colour | blue, red, green |
7 | origin | English, Japanese, Turkish |
8 | material | wood, metal, plastic |
9 | type | general-purpose, four-legged, U-shaped |
10 | purpose | cleaning, cooking, hammering |
