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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