Order of Adjectives

[Name of the Institute]Order of Adjectives

Introduction

In writing, a variety of adjectives are used in order to make the writing more complex and interesting. However, the usage and order of adjectives within a sentence is even trickier for natives. When multiple adjectives occur within a single sentence which type of adjective should come first, second, etc.? For example, the red big car (Or the red big car???) This is quite confusing even for natives. This is the underlying reason for this academic paper.

This chapter explains the concept and usage of adjectives with the help of easy to understand examples. This will help the reader to grasp the idea of proper usage of adjectives. The idea proposed by several grammarians within this field of study (i.e. order of adjectives) has also been taken into consideration to make this chapter authentic and reliable for readers.

Adjectives

In simpler words, adjectives are words that describe, identify and quantify nouns. Nouns are described by answering three simple questions (i.e. What kind it is? Which one is it? How many are there?). This can be clearly explained through the following sentences;

Johnson decided that the fuzzy brown bread would make an appetizing breakfast.

What kind? Fuzzy brown (bread) and appetizing (breakfast)

The healthiest food in cafeteria is beef steak.

Which one? Healthiest food in cafeteria.

Seven students ordered seven vanilla milkshakes from the cafeteria.

How many? Seven (students) and seven (milkshakes)

Types of Adjectives

As mentioned by MacFadyen, H. (2013) adjectives are categorized into four types namely; possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, interrogative adjectives and indefinite adjectives. Following is a brief description of the mentioned adjectives with some easy to understand examples;

Possessive Adjectives

As the name suggests, possessive adjectives are quite similar to possessive pronouns in terms of nature. These adjectives are used to modify a noun or a noun phrase within a sentence. For example,

The bakery offered her favorite cookies at discounted rates.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are identical to demonstrative pronouns. These adjectives are 'this', 'those', 'these', 'that' and 'what'. Demonstrative adjectives can be explained through the following example;

This apartment is a mess.

Interrogative Adjectives

Unlike interrogative pronouns, interrogative adjectives are used to modify nouns and noun phrases. For example;

What is your phone number?

Indefinite Adjectives

Indefinite adjectives are used to modify nouns, pronouns and/or noun phrases. This can be explained through the following example;

'All dogs go to heaven' is the favorite game of Miranda.

Examining and Reporting about Adjectives

The concept of adjective ordering has been widely ...