Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together:
* My brother lives in a nice new house.
* In the kitchen there was 'a beautiful large round wooden table.
Adjectives like new/large/round/wooden are fact adjectives. They give us factual information about age, size, colour etc.
Adjectives like nice/beautiful are opinion adjectives. They tell us what somebody thinks of something or somebody.
Opinion adjectives usually go before fact adjectives.
a nice(opinion) long(fact) summer holiday
an interesting(opinion) young(fact) man
an delicious(opinion) hot(fact) vegetable soup
a beautiful(opinion) large round wooden(fact) table
Sometimes we use two or more fact adjectives. Very often (but not always) we put fact adjectives in this order:
1. how big? -> 2. how old? -> 3. what color? -> 4. where from? -> 5. what is it made of? ->
NOUN
a tall young man (1 -> 2)
a large wooden table (1 -> 5)
big blue eyes (1 -> 3)
an old Russian song (2 -> 4)
a small black plastic bag (1 -> 3 -> 5)
an old white cotton shirt (2 -> 3 -> 5)
Adjectives of size and length (big/small/tall/short/long etc.) usually go before adjectives of shape and width (round/fat/thin/slim/wide etc.): a large round table a tall thin girl a long narrow street
When there are two colour adjectives, we use and:
a black and white dress a red, white and green flag
but a long black dress (not 'a long and black dress')
We say 'the first two days', 'the next few weeks', 'the last ten minutes' etc.:
* I didn't enjoy the first two days of the course. (not 'the two first days')
* They'll be away for the next few weeks. (not 'the few next weeks')
We use adjectives after be/get/become/seem:
* Be careful!
* I'm tired and I'm getting hungry.
* As the film went on, it became more and more boring.
* Your friend seems very nice.
We also use adjectives to say how somebody/something looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells:
* You look tired./I feel tired./She sounds tired.
* The dinner smells good.
* This tea tastes a bit strange.
But to say how somebody does something you must use an adverb (see Units 99-100):
* Drive carefully! (not 'Drive careful')
* Susan plays the piano very well. (not 'plays...very good')
EXERCISES
98.1 Put the adjectives in brackets in the correct position.
1. a beautiful table (wooden/round) _a beautiful round wooden table_.
2. an unusual ring (gold) ---.
3. a new pullover (nice) ---.
4. a new pullover (green) ---.
5. an old house (beautiful) ---.
6. black gloves (leather) ---.
7. an American film (old) ---.
8. a long face (thin) ---.
9. big clouds (black) ---.
10. a sunny day (lovely) ---.
11. a wide avenue (long) ---.
12. a metal box (black/small) ---.
13. a big cat (fat/black) ---.
14. a little village (old/lovely) ---.
15. long hair (black/beautiful) ---.
16. an old painting (interesting/French) ---.
17. an enormous umbrella (red/yellow) ---.
98.2 Write the following in another way using the first .../the next ..../the last ...
1. the first day and the second day of the course _the first two days of the course_
2. next week and the week after _the next two weeks_
3. yesterday and the day before yesterday ---
4. the first week and the second week of September ---
5. tomorrow and a few days after that ---
6. questions 1, 2 and 3 of the examination ---
7. next year and the year after ---
8. the last day of our holiday and the two days before that ---
98.3 Complete each sentence with a verb (in the correct form) and an adjective from the boxes.
verb: feel smell look seem smell sound taste
adjective: awful fine nice interesting upset wet
1. Ann _seemed upset_ this morning. Do you know what was wrong?
2. I can't eat this. I've just tried it and it ---.
3. I wasn't very well yesterday but I --- today.
4. What beautiful flowers! They --- too.
5. You --- Have you been out in the rain?
6. Jim was telling me about his new job. It --- quite ---, much better than his old job.
98.4 Choose the correct word.
1. This tea tastes a bit _strange._ (strange/strangely)
2. I always feel --- when the sun is shining. (happy/happily)
3. The children were playing --- in the garden. (happy/happily)
4. The man became --- when the manager of the restaurant asked him to leave. (violent/violently)
5. You look --- Are you all right? (terrible/terribly)
6. There s no point in doing a job if you don t do it ---. (proper/properly)
98.1
2 an unusual gold ring
3 a nice new pullover
4 a new green pulloer
5 a beautiful old house
6 black leather gloves
7 an old American film
8 a long thin face
9 big black clouds
10 a lovely sunny day
11 a long wide avenue
12 a small black metal box
13 a big fat black cat
14 a lovely little old village
15 beautiful long black hair
16 an interesting old French painting
17 an enormous red and yellow umbrella
98.2
3 the last two days
4 the first two weeks of September
5 the next few days
6 the first three questions (of the examination)
7 the next two years
8 the last three days of our holiday
98.3
2 tastes awful or tasted awful
3 feel fine
4 smell nice
5 look wet
6 sounds quite interesting or sounded quite interesting
98.4
2 happy 3 happily
4 violent 5 terrible
6 properly
