July 03, 2023
please tell me the priority of adjectives before noun
In response to your query about the priority of adjectives before nouns, I researched several sources to gather information on the topic. I found discussions on Reddit, articles on grammar websites like Ginger Software, Woodward English, Grammar Monster, and the British Council. There was a general consensus on the specific order of adjectives, with slight variations in the categories listed. The sources were directly related to your query, and I am confident in the information provided.
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Adjective Order
Exceptions and Adjustments
Cumulative and Coordinate Adjectives
Usage and Practice
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Research
"https://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/order_of_adjectives.htm"
- The order of adjectives in English is determiner, quantity, opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, color/colour, origin, material, type, and purpose.
- The order applies only to cumulative adjectives.
- Cumulative adjectives work together to modify their noun and cumulate as they get nearer to the noun to create a more specific meaning.
- They must appear in a specific order, and they cannot be separated by commas or the word “and.”
- The order of cumulative adjectives in English is: determiner, quantity, opinion or observation, size, physical quality, shape, age, color/colour, origin or religion, material, type, and purpose or attributive noun.
- Coordinate adjectives are multiple adjectives that modify the same noun but do not cumulate their meaning with other adjectives, and their order isn’t important.
- Coordinate adjectives should be separated with commas or “and” to make it clear they’re not cumulative adjectives.
- Sometimes, an adjective and a noun are inseparable because they belong together as a single semantic unit (i.e., a recognized thing).
- There are many versions of this list, but all versions are pretty similar.
- Article, demonstrative determiner, and possessive determiner are the types of adjectives falling under the determiner placement.
- Adjectives of quantity include one, two, fifteen, six hundred.
- Adjectives of opinion/observation include good, lovely, interesting, unusual.
- Adjectives of size include big, small, tiny, colossal.
- Physical quality adjectives are those describing how something feels or looks, such as soft, hard, fluffy, smooth, oily, sticky.
- Shape adjectives are those that describe the shape of something, like round, flat, wavy, oblong.
- Age adjectives describe how old something is, such as young, middle-aged, ancient.
- Origin or religion adjectives include words like French, Muslim, Italian.
- Material adjectives describe the materials things are made of, such as wooden, metal, cotton, woolen.
- Type adjectives describe the type of something, such as simple, economic, folding.
- Attributive nouns are nouns that can be used as if they were adjectives, such as headache in a headache pill.
- Deluded, fat, cat, City of London are compound nouns that have to stick together.
- Other versions of the order of adjectives may exist, but all versions are similar.
- Native English speakers
"https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/adjective-order"
Relevant: true Notes:
- Adjectives usually come in the following order – general opinion, specific opinion, size, shape, age, colour, nationality, and material.
- It is unusual to have more than three adjectives in front of a noun.
- It’s better to use a general opinion in front of the specific opinion in adjectives.
- General opinion adjectives are used to describe almost any noun. Examples include good, bad, lovely, nice, beautiful, brilliant, excellent, awful, important, wonderful, and nasty.
- Specific opinion adjectives are used to describe particular kinds of nouns. For example, we can use delicious/tasty for food, comfortable/uncomfortable for furniture and buildings, clever/intelligent/friendly for people and animals.
- Opinion adjectives usually come in front of descriptive adjectives. For instance, “a nice red dress” or “a silly old man.”
- We use some adjectives only after link verbs. For instance, afraid, alive, alone, asleep, content, glad, ill, ready, sorry, sure, unable, and well.
- Some of the most common -ed adjectives are usually used only after a link verb. For example, annoyed, bored, finished, pleased, and thrilled.
- A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun. Examples include north, south, east, west, countless, occasional, lone, mere, indoor, outdoor.
- The page has exercises that learners can do to practice adjective ordering.
- The topic of the webpage is the order of adjectives.
- Learners at an intermediate to advanced English level can benefit from the knowledge in the webpage.
- The page has three levels of information – beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
- The page has four sections and two hyperlinks.
- It is advisable to put opinion adjectives in front of size adjectives.
- Colour adjectives come immediately after size adjectives.
- The page has examples of how to use these types of adjectives in sentences.
- The page has a question asking if readers need to improve their English grammar. It directs learners to sign up for online courses.
- The page is a language learning resource.
"https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/adjectives/order-of-adjectives/"
- Adjectives are used to describe and provide more information about a noun.
- In many languages, adjectives denoting attributes usually occur in a specific order.
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Generally, the adjective order in English is:
- Quantity or number
- Quality or opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Color
- Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
- Purpose or qualifier
- The order of adjectives helps the listener or the reader understand the attributes of the noun in a specific order, making the language more systematic and organized.
- The page provides several examples of the adjectives order in English and explain how to choose the correct order.
- When there are two or more adjectives that are from the same group, the word ‘and’ is placed between the two adjectives.
- When there are three or more adjectives from the same adjective group, place a comma between each of the coordinate adjectives.
- A comma is not placed between an adjective and the noun.
- The page includes an exercise section that offers multiple-choice questions for practice.
- In the exercises, each multiple-choice question includes three options, and the user must choose which option correctly follows the order of adjectives.
- The page includes the article’s author and the publishing date.
- The GingerSoftware website contains other articles related to the English language, including grammar-related topics, examples, and guides.
- The page provides an option to print the article and share it on social media.
- The page has the number of reads and comments.
- The site offers an additional tool that can help with grammar and sentence construction.
- The tool, called “Ginger Software,” checks grammar, spelling, and punctuation in real-time automatically.
- The website offers pricing plans for further usage of the tool following a free trial.
- The site contains customer reviews and ratings for the tool.
- The page has a search bar to find specific content on the website.
- The GingerSoftware website contains links to additional content related to grammar and language, including articles, tools, and blogs.
- It is possible to contact the website support team by email.
- The homepage of the site provides details about the company’s mission and services.
"https://www.woodwardenglish.com/lesson/adjectives-word-order/"
- Adjectives are words that modify nouns or pronouns.
- Adjectives may come before or after a noun.
- When multiple adjectives are used before a noun, they typically appear in a specific order.
- The order for multiple adjectives before a noun is: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose.
- The acronym for the order of adjectives is OSASCOMP.
- Opinion adjectives typically come first, unless another adjective has a fixed order.
- Opinion adjectives include those that express value judgement, including beautiful, ugly, delicious, and comfortable.
- Size adjectives describe how big or small a noun is.
- Examples of size adjectives include big, small, huge, and tiny.
- Age adjectives describe how old or young a noun is.
- Examples of age adjectives include old, young, and new.
- Shape adjectives describe the shape, length, or weight of a noun.
- Examples of shape adjectives include round, square, long, heavy, and skinny.
- Color adjectives describe the color of a noun.
- Examples of color adjectives include green, blue, reddish, pink, black, and white.
- Origin adjectives describe the origin or location of a noun.
- Examples of origin adjectives include American, British, French, Indian, and Australian.
- Material adjectives describe the material of which a noun is made.
- Examples of material adjectives include gold, wooden, plastic, synthetic, and cotton.
- Purpose adjectives describe the intended or actual use of a noun.
- Examples of purpose adjectives include gardening, shopping, and riding.
- The order of adjectives before a noun is not always fixed and can vary depending on context.
- Number and condition adjectives can also be used before a noun.
- Number adjectives describe the quantity of a noun.
- Examples of number adjectives include one, two, three, several, and many.
- Condition adjectives describe the state or condition of a noun.
- Examples of condition adjectives include dirty, wet, clean, cold, and hot.
"How strict is the 'OSASCOMP' adjective order?"
- Reddit conversation discussing the strict order of adjectives before a noun in English.
- The order is as follows - Opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose.
- This order is not a guideline but a strict rule and variations almost always sound wrong.
- There are exceptions such as “big bad wolf” which is an example of the ablaut reduplication rule.
- Adjective ordering is universal and deviations from the order are rare.
- Hip-hop, ping-pong, knick- knack, flip-flop, zig-zag, tick-tock follow the iambic sound pattern.
- Euphony determines whether an order is adjusted to sound nice to an English speaker.
- The Collocation rule, like in Bad Blue Boys, where “bad boys” is a set phrase and not subject to normal adjective order.
- On occasion, the need for emphasis can push the adjective order back a bit.
- Permanent and changeable are another approach to understanding adjective order that some have claimed.
- The importance of the adjectives can matter a lot when the first one will stand out most to the reader.
- Universal adjective orderings are presented as evidence in the Rosen 2016 paper.
- “Brunette Swede” or “Swedish brunette,” which order to choose?
- Nouns can “noun-ify” easily in English.
- Order can be adjusted to sound nice to English speakers (literally) rather than sound “right.”
- The vowel ablaut rule determines the preference for “i” before “a” and “o.”
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Discussion on scenarios where adjectives can be placed in different orders
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Explanation of the order of adjectives in English