Did you know that when more than one adjective is used in a sentence, they must be written in a specific order?
Most English speakers, including your students, do this automatically. When they speak or write, they use what sounds right to guide the order of adjectives. They know that “last brick house” sounds weird and can quickly and confidently adapt it to “last brick house.” This is fine for commonly used adjectives.
However, if your students need to use adjectives that are not that common, especially ones that are not used in everyday conversation, it can be very difficult for them to determine the correct placement of the adjective.
Give your students the opportunity to explore and practice how adjectives should be placed in a sentence and their skills and confidence will increase.
This is the correct order of adjectives.
1) OPINIONS (lovely, helpful)
2) SIZE (big, huge)
3) AGE (mature, old)
4) SHAPE (square, oval)
5) COLOR (red, burgundy)
6) ORIGINS (American English)
7) MATERIALS (wood, cotton)
8) PURPOSES (writing, sun)
Use these exercises to practice placing adjectives with your students.
1) Write the order of the adjectives on the board and ask your students to suggest examples. Write two examples for each type of adjective.
2) Ask your students to copy what you have written on the board and include two more examples for each type of adjective.
3) Write 3-4 adjectives on the board and ask your students to use them all in one sentence. Here are some adjectives you could use (furry, big, yellow), (cold, silver, English), (roasted, salty, chili), (fluffy, young, white). This activity can be done multiple times.
4) Write 3 or 4 adjectives on the board. Include a word or two that your students won’t know. Here are some examples (rehydrated, orange, African), (dusty, brown, marsupial), (sour, salty, Greek). Ask your students to look up the words they don’t know in a dictionary and then use all the words in a sentence.
5) Ask your students to find three examples of adjective order in books they have been exploring in class.
6) Write a sentence on the board that includes at least three adjectives. Ask your students to write the opposite of that sentence. When you do this, it will become clear that although the meaning of the adjectives can change drastically, the order of the adjectives remains the same.
For example, “The boy saw the long, dusty, dirt road” becomes “The boy saw the short, clean, cement road.”