Why worry about it?

Before you shake your head and think that this must be some major word nerd discussion, hold tight for a second. Putting adjectives in the correct order is actually a practice of proper grammar, specifically when all of your adjectives are leading up to your noun. With help from the Cambridge Dictionary, we’ll walk through each category of adjectives and where they land in the numerical order. However, let’s get one more technical note out of the way first. 

Since we are working with lists right now, it’s important to talk about the placement of and. 

It’s explained in the Cambridge Dictionary that the placement or use of and depends on how many adjectives you’re dealing with. When your list of adjectives is placed before the main noun, and only comes into place when the adjectives are of the same type. If your adjectives follow a linking verb, then it’s more common for and to connect the last two adjectives before the noun. As much as you might want to throw a stray and here and there to break up your lists, try to keep these things in mind. All set with that? 

Let’s go.

Adjectives 1-5

Example

I picked up this intriguing, pocket-sized, thick, square, surprisingly old book.

Opinion

Cambridge Dictionary explains that opinions and feelings will lead the way and as you go down the list, it will end with adjectives describing simple facts. That being said, Intriguing is an adjective that relates opinions people might have about a noun, which is why it takes first place in the adjective order. 

Size

To start working outward from feelings and opinions, size takes the next step on that ladder. Let’s be clear, this is related to the overall size of the noun in question. Make sure not to get your size description confused with the next adjective we’ll talk about. Size is second in the adjective order. 

Physical Quality

After size comes the addition of any adjective meant to describe physical quality. In the case of this example, we’re working with the adjective, thick. Think of it as one more step to specify the description. Don’t get too logistically tangled by how close these categories are. Physical quality lands third in the adjective order.

Shape

One more adjective based on technical physicality focuses on shape. While some writers might want to place square next to size instead of physical qualities, shape technically belongs in fourth place of the adjective order.

Age

For this section, age adjectives mark the halfway point in the order. The overall placement works as a transition between physical descriptions to start off, and the rest of the list. Old stands as the last adjective in our example and fifth in the overall adjective order.

Adjectives 6-10

Example

We’re waiting on a dark brown, originally Irish, made of all wood, one-sided, organizer type of bookshelf.

Color

Now, we’re moving on to some more commonly used descriptions that can stack on the set physical foundation. Keep in mind, we’re not using all ten at once, as you can tell. Yet, since there is no of the other adjectives preceding in this example, the color starts off the description. Color lands in sixth place of the adjective order.

Origin

Once color is done, you’ll notice that the rest of this list shapes the specific moment. Origin falls next, if it is something that pertains to your noun at all. In case you need a refresher, Merriam-Webster defines origin as, “the point at which something begins or rises or from which it derives.” Therefore, you’re finding out that this bookshelf began in Ireland. Origin is seventh in line of the adjective order. 

Material

In one of the last attempts to paint a picture with your adjectives, there is room to talk about the materials of your noun. That is the exact placement you can see in the example, by the way that all wood follows origin but doesn’t precede the type. Material is eighth place for the adjective order. 

Type

Type might be a difficult way to think about this next adjective, and it’s clearly not anything already stated. The best alternative is to relate this adjective to the idea of structure. One-sided is giving clues as to the structure of this specific bookshelf, and many other adjectives you’ll see in this category relate to type the same way. With that in mind, type falls in ninth place of the adjective order. 

Purpose

At the end of the adjective line, after all of the different levels of description, we land on purpose. In relation to the sentence we’re using, organizer type wraps everything up so that we have these adjectives placed between the bookshelf and the purpose for that bookshelf. All of these descriptions lead up to the most important detail. Purpose lands in tenth and final place for the adjective order.