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Sometimes two or more
adjectives may be used in succession, and their order may be complex. To
know the correct order it is important to differentiate between opinion
adjectives and facts adjectives.
1. Opinion adjectives come before
fact adjectives. 'Opinion' is what you think about something. 'Fact' is
what is definitely true about something.
A beautiful young lady; a
delicious hot meal; an interesting long novel
In the first example,
young is a fact adjective but beautiful is an opinion.
2. When more
than one fact adjective occur, they are often place in this
order:
Size(1)-Age(2)-Colour(3)-Material(4)-Origin(5)
a big, old,
black, wooden Chinese table
A slim old woman; a green Nigerian bag
A
young white rabbit; a big white plastic bag
A small wooden plate; a
large red house
3. An adjective dealing with size and length (big,
small, short, tall, long, etc.) usually go before an adjective of shape
and width (slim, wide, fat, thin, young, etc).
A small round stool; a
tall thin lady
A long narrow street; a big fat man
4. Determiners
usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:
Articles (a,
an, the); possessives (my, your...); demonstratives(this, that...);
quantifiers (some, any, few, many...); numbers (one, two, three)
5. If
two or more colours are used, AND is used to join them.
A red and white
shirt; a green, white and blue flag
Note the following also:
The
last two matches; the next few days
The first three weeks; a wide long
street
Which of these phrases are correct:
A long beautiful
black hair; a big fat black cat
A lovely little old village; a metal
black small bo
Black big dogs; red long beautiful dress
1. Amankwa
has married�..lady. SC/GCE June 1994
A. slim a fair beautiful B. a
beautiful fair slim
C. slim beautiful a fair D. beautiful a slim
fair
2. That is the�Thomas recommended SC/GCE June 1994
A. luxurious
new car blue
B. car luxurious blue new
C. new luxurious blue car
D. blue car luxurious new
3. My father has a ��.. SC/GCE June
1993
A. blue, small Russian car
B. a Russian blue, small car
C.
Russian car blue, small
D. small, blue Russian car
4.Kwame bought a
�.bag. SC/GCE June 1990
A. large, white, leather B. leather, white,
large
C. white, leather, large D. large, leather,
white
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