Adjectives and adverbs · Elementary (A2)
Adjectives: position and order
Put adjectives before nouns or after be, never add -s, and use the natural order: a lovely old wooden house.
The rules
Adjectives go before a noun (a fast car) or after be, look, seem, feel (The car is fast. You look tired.). They never take a plural -s: two big dogs.
With more than one adjective, the usual order is opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material → purpose + noun: a beautiful small old round blue Chinese ceramic vase (in real life, we rarely use more than two or three).
-ed vs -ing adjectives: -ed describes how a person feels (I’m bored), -ing describes what causes the feeling (The film is boring).
| Opinion | Size | Age | Colour | Origin | Material | Noun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lovely | big | old | red | Italian | leather | sofa |
Examples
- She has long black hair.
- It’s a lovely old wooden table.
- I was so bored — the lecture was really boring.
- You look happy today!
Common mistakes
✗ a car red
✓ a red car
Adjectives go before the noun.
✗ I’m very interesting in art.
✓ I’m very interested in art.
-ed describes feelings.
✗ a wooden old small box
✓ a small old wooden box
Order: size → age → material.
Practice
Which is correct?
Quiz
1.I felt ___ after the long journey.
2.Which order is natural?
3.Adjectives take -s when the noun is plural.
4.Complete the sentence.