Adjective placement

In my nice big flat

There’s an old round box

For my green Swiss hat

And my woolly walking socks.

Adjective Placement

How To Use Adjectives

Read through the rules, and then do the exercises underneath.

When using more than one adjective to describe a noun place the adjectives in the following order before the noun.

NOTE: We usually use no more than three adjectives preceding a noun.

1. Opinion and general description
   Example: nice, funny, lovely
   
   
2. Dimension / Size / Weight
   Example: big, small, heavy
   
   
3. Age
   Example: old, new, young, ancient
   
   
4. Shape
   Example: round, square, oval
   
   
5. Colour
   Example: green, red, blue, black
   
   
6. Country of origin
   Example: Italian, Polish, English 
   
   
7. Material
   Example: wooden, cotton, woollen, plastic
   
   
   8. Purpose and power
   Example: walking (socks), tennis (racquet), electric (iron)

Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above. Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.

• A wonderful old French clock. (opinion - age - origin)
• A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - colour)
• A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - colour - material)

Exercises

Place the adjectives in the correct order before the noun. When you have decided on the correct order, click on the arrow to see if you have answered correctly.

• eyes green - lovely         --         lovely green eyes       
  
• girl skinny - short         --         a short skinny girl       
  
• jacket cotton green new         --         a new green cotton jacket       
  
• apple ripe - green - delicious         --         a delicious ripe green apple       
  
• jumper woollen - large - black         --         a large black woollen jumper       
  
• flat beautiful - modern - small         --         a beautiful small modern flat       
  
• magazine English - strange         --         a strange English magazine       
  
• hat cotton - funny - green         --         a funny green cotton hat       

Here's a rhyme which, if you learn it, might help you remember the order of adjectives!

In my nice big flat

There's an old round box

For my green swiss hat

And my woolly walking socks.

Source : http://www.world-english.org/adjectiveplacement.htm