Nouns can be modified or described by adjectives. Sometimes these adjectives can actually also be nouns themselves. We call all these describing words 'modifiers.' Modifiers usually come immediately before the nouns they describe.

There are several different categories of modifiers.

Here are some examples.

Quality/Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Kind/Purpose
new big old circular blue German wooden school
fashionable small young round beige local glass business
ugly humongous two-year-old angular turquoise international paper educational

If two or more modifiers are used to describe one noun, they are usually used in the order shown by the arrow. We usually use at most three or four modifiers for one noun.

Sometimes, we use more than one modifier in the same category. When this happens, we follow this rule:

Colour and material modifiers Separate adjectives using 'and'
All other modifiers Separate adjectives using 'and' or a comma (,)

Here are some examples of sentences with adjectives used to describe nouns.

Age Colour Noun
old black, white photograph
  • Henry found an old, black and white photograph of his parents.
Size Shape Material Noun
large square wooden table
  • We bought a large, square, wooden table for the dining room.
Quality/Opinion Origin Kind/Purpose Noun
beautiful Japanese decorative blanket
  • I have a beautiful, Japanese, decorative blanket at home.
Quality/Opinion Noun
generous, funny woman
  • She is a generous, funny woman.

Exercise

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Exercises

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