The order of adjectives

A Introduction

It's beautiful sunny weather.

Nick has got a big black dog.

We can use more than one adjective before a noun. There is usually one correct order. We cannot say sunny beautiful weather or a-black big dog

B Adjectives and nouns

We sometimes use two nouns together (see Unit 82).

a glass door a computer program

Here we use glass like an adjective, to describe the door. When we use another adjective as well (e.g. heavy), it comes before both the nouns.

a heavy glass door a useful computer program

C Word order

We order adjectives according to their meaning. This is the normal order:

EXAMPLES

GROUP

1 Opinion (how good?)

2 Size (how big?)

3 Most other qualities

4 Age (how old?)

5 Colour

6 Origin (where from?)

7 Material (made of?)

8 Type (what kind?)

9 Purpose (what for?)

Here are some examples.

a small green insect (size, colour) Japanese industrial designers (origin, type) a wonderful new face cream (opinion, age, purpose) awful plastic souvenirs (opinion, material) a long boring train journey (size, quality, type) some nice easy quiz questions (opinion, quality, purpose) a beautiful wooden picture frame (opinion, material, purpose)

We sometimes put commas between adjectives in Groups 1-3 a horrible, ugly building a busy, lively, exciting city

► big leather boots

1. …………………………………………….. 3 …………………………………….

2. …………………………………………….. 4 ……………………………………

2 The order of adjectives (A-C)

Write a list of things to be sold at an auction.

► basin / sugar, antique, silver an antique silver sugar basin

1 vase / glass, old, lovely

2 mirror / wall, attractive

3 desk / modern, office

4 chairs / kitchen, red, metal

5 boat / model, splendid, old

6 stamps / postage, valuable, Australian

7 table / small, coffee, wooden

3 The order of adjectives (A-C)

Look at each advertisement and write the information in a single sentence.

► This game is new. It's for the family. And it's exciting.
This is an exciting new family game.

1 This computer is for business. It's Japanese. And it's powerful.

2 This fire is electric. It's excellent. And it's small.

3 This is a chocolate bar. It's new. And it's a big bar.

4 This comedy is American. It's for television. And it's terrific.

5 These doors are aluminium. They're for your garage. And they're stylish.

6 These shoes are modern. They're for sports. And they're wonderful.
This phone is a mobile. It's German. And it's very good.

There are some adjectives that we can use with the to talk about groups of people in society, e.g. the disabled, the blind. Here are some more examples.

What can we do to feed the hungry? The rich can afford to pay more taxes.

The young are usually keen to travel. It is our duty to care for the sick.

B What adjectives can we use?

These are some of the adjectives and other words that we can use in a phrase with the.

To do with social or economic position:

the disadvantaged, the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the privileged, the rich, the starving,

the strong, the underprivileged, the unemployed, the weak

To do with physical condition or health:

the blind, the deaf, the dead, the disabled, the handicapped, the living, the sick

To do with age:

the elderly, the middle-aged, the old, the over-sixties, the under-fives, the young

We can sometimes use an adverb before the adjective.

The very poor are left without hope. The severely disabled need full-time care. There are some adjectives in this structure that normally have an adverb.

The less fortunate cannot afford to go on holiday.

Should the mentally ill be allowed to live in the community?

C The young or the young people?

The young means 'young people in general'.

The young have their lives in front of them. When we mean a specific person or a specific group of people, then we use man, woman, people, etc.

There was a young man standing on the corner.

I know the young woman in reception. She lives in our street.

None of the young people in the village can find jobs here.

► Better education for the young 3 Better hospitals for

1 Food for 4 Jobs for

2 Homes for 5 Better pensions for

The old, the rich, etc (A-B)

Rewrite the sentences using a phrase with the and an adjective instead of the underlined phrases.

► People who have lots of money have comfortable lives.
The rich have comfortable lives.

1 We live near a special school for people who can't hear.

2 The old soldiers were holding a service for those who had died.

3 The government should do more for people who do not have enough money.

4 I'm doing a course on caring for people who are mentally handicapped.

3 The young or the young people? (C)

Complete these sentences from a newspaper. Use the adjectives in brackets. Put in e.g. the hungry or the hungry people.

? Rich nations can afford to feed the hungry (hungry).

? The homeless people (homeless) whose story appeared in this paper last week have
now found a place to live.

1 ………………………..... (sick) need to be looked after, so money must be spent on hospitals.

2 Some of ................................................... (young) at the youth club here are running in a marathon.

3 Life must be hard for....... ……………… (unemployed) in our society today.

4 What is the government doing to help....................... (poor)?

5 There was a fire at a nursing home in Charles Street, but none of………………………………. (old)
who live there were hurt.

6 …………………………… (homeless) usually have great difficulty in getting a job.

7 There is a special television programme for............. ……….(deaf) every Sunday morning.

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 2753