BBC World Service | Learning English | The Flatmates


Descriptive adjectives come before adjectives which classify or say what type of thing we are talking about
	description	classification	noun
a	black	leather	handbag
an	expensive	Japanese	painting
the	latest	business	book


Adjectives which say what we think or feel about something or how we judge it usually come before descriptive adjectives
	opinion	description	noun
a	sexist	old-fashioned	bore
an	amazing	chocolate	cake
the	lovely	blue	vase
two	gorgeous	free	tickets

Although this order isn't completed fixed, we usually put descriptive adjectives in the following order:

size, age, shape, colour, origin, material

a little, old lady
a young, fat, brown puppy
a petite, white, French, linen jacket

We can put commas between adjectives, particularly if the list is long and gives similar sorts of information:

an informative, interesting, interactive presentation
a lovely, funny, light-hearted film

We can put 'and' between the final two adjectives in a list depending on whether the list comes after a verb or is followed by a noun

After a verb:
She was tall, beautiful and smart
They were expensive, old and rare

Followed by a noun:
A tall, beautiful woman
Expensive, old, rare coins

the promise of something:
to guarantee that you will get something

a match:
a game played between two teams (for example, tennis or football)

a raffle:
a competition where the winner is chosen at random or by chance (not on merit or skill)