Order of adjectives

How to order adjectives in English

In many languages, adjectives denoting attributes usually occur in a specific order. Generally, the
adjective order in English is:
1. Quantity or number
2. Quality or opinion
3. Size
4. Age
5. Shape
6. Color
7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
8. Purpose or qualifier
For example:
1. I love that really big old green antique car that always parked at the end of the street.
2. My sister adopted a beautiful big white bulldog.
When there are two or more adjectives that are from the same group, the word and is placed
between the two adjectives:
1. The house is green and red.
2. The library has old and new books.
When there are three or more adjectives from the same adjective group, place a comma between
each of the coordinate adjectives:
1. We live in the big green, white and red house at the end of the street.
2. My friend lost a red, black and white watch.
A comma is not placed between an adjective and the noun.

Explanation
action that takes place
once, never or several
times
actions that happen
one after another
state
action going on at that
moment
actions taking place at
the same time

Past
Simple Past

Future
Future I Simple
He will / is going to
He played football
He plays football
play football every
every Tuesday.
every Tuesday.
Tuesday.
He will play football
He played football and He plays football and
and then he will go
then he went home.
then he goes home.
home.
He loved football.
He loves football.
He will love football.
Past Progressive
Present Progressive Future I Progressive
He was playing
He will be playing
He is playing football.
football.
football.
He was playing
He will be playing
He is playing football
football and she was
football and she will
and she is watching.
watching.
be watching.
Present Perfect
Past Perfect Simple
Future II Simple
Simple

action taking place

before a certain
He had won five
moment in time;
matches until that day.
emphasises the result
Past Perfect
Progressive
action taking place
before a certain
He had been playing
moment in time (and
football for ten years.
beyond), emphasises
the duration

Present
Simple Present

He has won five

matches so far.

He will have won five

matches by then.

Present Perfect
Progressive

Future II Progressive

He will have been

He has been playing
playing football for
football for ten years.
ten years.

Simple Tenses

There are three basic times when verbs can take place: past, present, and future.
These are the easy ones to remember. In fact, they are called simple tenses.

1. Simple present tense verbs show actions that happen regularly or that are permanently
happening.
We play football in the backyard.
My niece skips down the road.

2. Simple past tense verbs are verbs that show actions that took place in the past.
We played football in the backyard.
My niece skipped down the road

3. Simple future tense verbs are verbs that show actions that have not taken place yet, but that
will take place in the future.
We will play football in the backyard.
My niece will skip down the road.
You can learn more about simple tenses with these stories and exercises.

Perfect Tenses

English verbs also have three perfect verb tenses: present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and
future perfect tense.
These tenses are pretty cool, I guess, but I'm not sure that I'd call them perfect. Whoever named
these guys sure thought highly of them.
At any rate, all of these perfect tenses are formed with the helping verbs have, has, had,
will and shall and the past participles of the verb.
4. Present perfect tense verbs show actions that were finished recently or ones that were
completed at an indefinite time in the past. These use has or have.
We have played football.
My niece has skipped down the road.

5. Past perfect tense verbs show actions that came directly before another action in the past.
These use had.

We had played football.

My niece had skipped down the road before I came.

6. Future perfect tense verbs show actions that will happen before other future actions happens.
These use will have and shall have.
By tomorrow, we will have played football.
By noon, my niece will have skipped down the road.

Progressive/Continuous Forms
Both simple and perfect verb tenses can also be made into progressive verb forms. Sometimes
they are also called continuous.
That just means that they show an action that is in progress or that is continuing.
To form this type of verb, you add one of the forms of the verb be with the present participle of
the verb. (The present participle ends in -ing.)
We are playing. (present progressive)
We were playing. (past progressive)
We will be playing. (future progressive)
We have been playing. (present perfect progressive)
We had been playing. (past perfect progressive)
We will have been playing. (future perfect progressive)

Regular Verbs
These are not a different tense, but they are an important thing to learn about.
Verbs that add -d or -ed to their present form to form the past tense are regular verbs.

Here are some sentences with regular verbs. Notice that they end in -d or -ed.
The dog jumped toward the squirrel.
We all noticed the stain on his shirt.
My grandmother knitted me this scarf.

Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs are not a different tense, but they are also an important topic to study.
The word irregular means not regular, so irregular verbs are those that have unpredictable forms
in the past tense.
They don't add -d or -ed to their present form to form the past tense are irregular verbs.
Here are some sentences with irregular verbs written in the past tense. Notice that they don't end
in -d or -ed.
I ate my vegetables.
We swam across the lake.
My mother read me a bedtime story.
The Object of the Preposition
Recognize an object of the preposition when you see one.

Prepositions often begin prepositional phrases. To complete the phrase, the preposition usually
teams up with a noun, pronoun, or gerund, or the object of the preposition. Here are some
examples:
At noon
At = preposition; noon = noun or the object of the preposition.
Behind them
Behind = preposition; them = pronoun or the object of the preposition.

Without sneezing
Without = preposition; sneezing = gerund or the object of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have modifiers that add description:
At the kitchen counter
At = preposition; the, kitchen = modifiers; counter = noun or the object of the preposition.
Between us only
Between = preposition; us = pronoun or the object of the preposition; only = modifier.
Without completely finishing
Without = preposition; completely = modifier; finishing = gerund or the object of the
preposition.
Infrequently, a clause will be the object of the preposition, as in this example:
In class today, we talked about what Mr. Duncan expects in our next research essay.
About = preposition; what Mr. Duncan expects in our next research essay = noun clause or the
object of the preposition.

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Dependent Clauses: Adverbial, Adjectival, Nominal

Dependent clauses may work like adverbs, adjectives, or nouns in complex sentences.
1. Adverbial clauses

Like a single-word adverb, an adverbial clause describes a verb (in the sentence's main
clause) and answers one of these questions
where?

why?

how?

when?

to what degree?

An adverbial clause begins with a subordinating conjunction, which makes the clause
subordinate (dependent).
Common subordinating conjunctions:
after

in order (that)

unless

although

insofar as

until

as

in that

when

as far as

lest

whenever

as soon as

no matter how

where

as if

now that

wherever

as though

once

whether

because

provided (that)

while

before

since

why

even if

so that

even though

supposing (that)

how

than

if

that

inasmuch as

though

in case (that)

till

Example of adverbial clause answering when?

When will the flowers bloom? Answer: when spring arrives

Example of adverbial clause answering why?

Why didn't the poor woman have money? Answer: because she had lost her job

Example of adverbial clause answering where?

Where is there fire? Answer: where there is smoke

Example of adverbial clause answering how?

How did he answer the question? Answer: as if he knew the subject quite well

Example of adverbial clause answering to what degree?

To what degree of lateness will Jones arrive? Answer: (later) than Smith (will
arrive)

Another example of an adverbial clause answering to what degree?

To what degree is he young? Answer: (younger) than his brother (is)

Comma use with adverbial clauses

Comma use with adverbial clauses depends upon placement of the adverbial clause.
If the adverbial clause introduces the sentence, place a comma between it and the main
clause.

If the adverbial clause follows the main clause in a sentence, do not place a comma
between the two.

2. Adjectival clauses

Like a single-word adjective, an adjectival clause describes a noun (in the sentence's
main clause) and answers one of these questions
which one?

what kind?

An adjectival clause usually begins with a relative pronoun, which makes the clause
subordinate (dependent).
Common relative pronouns:

that

which

who

whom

whose

NOTE: Use who, whom, and whose to describe people.

Use that and which to describe things.
Adjectival clauses always follow the person, place, or thing they describe, usually
immediately.

Example of adjectival clause answering which one?

Which book did Joe read? Answer: the one that I gave him

Example of adjectival clause answering what kind?

What kind of politician has the support of the people? Answer: one who is
trustworthy

Adjectival clauses may also begin with selected subordinating conjunctions:

when - to describe a time

where - to describe a place

why - to describe a reason

Comma use with adjectival clauses

Comma use with adjectival clauses depends upon essentiality of the adjectival clause.

If the adjectival clause is essential (or "needed"), no commas should be used to

separate it from the main clause.
Generally, essential adjectival clauses should not begin with which.
Examples

Since the adjectival clauses in the above examples are needed to clarify the noun
that they describe, they are essential and should not be separated from the rest of the
sentence with commas.

If the adjectival clause is nonessential (or "not needed"), commas should separate it
from the main clause.
Nonessential adjectival clauses should not begin with that.
Examples

Since the adjectival clauses in the above examples are not needed to clarify the
noun that they describe, they are nonessential and should be separated from the rest
of the sentence with commas.
Note the difference between the sentences in each pair:

3. Nominal Clauses

Like a noun, a nominal clause names a person, place, thing, or idea. A nominal clause
may function in a sentence as any of the following:
subject
preposition
object

subjective complement
appositive
direct object
indirect object

object of
retained

Nominal clauses may begin with interrogatives:

who
where

whom what
how why

which

whoever

whomever

whatever

when

An interrogative beginning a nominal clause has a function within the nominal clause.
Each of the following examples illustrates

a nominal clause

the function of the nominal clause within the sentence

the function of the interrogative within the nominal clause

Nominal clause as subject in sentence

Nominal clause as subjective complement in sentence

Nominal clause as object of preposition in sentence

Nominal clause as direct object in sentence

Nominal clause as indirect object in sentence

Nominal clause as retained object in sentence

Nominal clauses may also begin with expletives:

that

whether

if

An expletive beginning a nominal clause has no function within the nominal clause.
Nominal clause beginning with expletive that

Nominal clause beginning with expletive whether

Nominal clause beginning with expletive if