"The rule is that multiple adjectives are always ranked accordingly: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. Unlike many laws of grammar or syntax, this one is virtually inviolable, even in informal speech. You simply can’t say My Greek Fat Big Wedding, or leather walking brown boots." ~ Tim Dowling in The Guardian (full article)
But of course, it's not that simple. This list and its order vary. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the order contains 10, not 8, categories, and is:
Some prefix the list with determiner and quantity. source: https://byjus.com/english/order-of-adjectives
order | relating to | examples |
1 | opinion | unusual, lovely, beautiful |
2 | size | big, small, tall |
3 | physical quality | thin, rough, untidy |
4 | shape | round, square, rectangular |
5 | age | young, old, youthful |
6 | colour | blue, red, pink |
7 | origin | Dutch, Japanese, Turkish |
8 | material | metal, wood, plastic |
9 | type | general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped |
10 | purpose | cleaning, hammering, cooking |
This English as a second language (ESL) site, eslgrammar.org, is more forgiving about the exact order by grouping size, shape, age, and color together.
Hope you enjoyed reading this English short surprising article. Or should it be surprising short English article?
No comments:
Post a Comment