Adjectives

My mother is less patient than my father.

Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.  

Some Adjectival Problem ChildrenGood versus Well

In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to choose between the adjective good and the adverb well. With most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying a verb, use the adverb.

He swims well.

He knows only too well who the murderer is.

However, when using a linking verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses, you want to use the adjective instead.

How are you? I'm feeling good, thank you.

After a bath, the baby smells so good.

Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn't look good.

Many careful writers, however, will use well after linking verbs relating to health, and this is perfectly all right. In fact, to say that you are good or that you feel good usually implies not only that you're OK physically but also that your spirits are high.

"How are you?"

"I am well, thank you."

Bad versus Badly

When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel bad or badly? Applying the same rule that applies to good versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have to do with human feelings. You felt bad. If you said you felt badly, it would mean that something was wrong with your faculties for feeling. 
 
 

Other Adjectival Considerations 

Review the section on Compound Nouns and Modifiers for the formation of modifiers created when words are connected: a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed fool.  

Review the section on Possessives for a distinction between possessive forms and "adjectival labels." (Do you belong to a Writers Club or a Writers' Club?) 

Adjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome for some students. It is one thing to be a frightened child; it is an altogether different matter to be a frightening child. Do you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are confused or that you are confusing? Generally, the -ed ending means that the noun so described ("you") has a passive relationship with something — something (the subject matter, the presentation) has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun described has a more active role — you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your professor). 

The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions (these are not the only choices):

We were amazed at all the circus animals.

We were amused by the clowns.

We were annoyed by the elephants.

We were bored by the ringmaster.

We were confused by the noise.

We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.

We were disappointed in their performance.

We were embarrassed by my brother.

We were exhausted from all the excitement.

We were excited by the lion-tamer.

We were excited about the high-wire act, too.

We were frightened by the lions.

We were introduced to the ringmaster.

We were interested in the tent.

We were irritated by the heat.

We were opposed to leaving early.

We were satisfied with the circus.

We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent.

We were surprised by the fans' response.

We were surprised at their indifference.

We were tired of all the lights after a while.

We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.  

A- Adjectives 

The most common of the so-called a- adjectives are ablaze, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, alike, alive, alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware. These adjectives will primarily show up as predicate adjectives (i.e., they come after a linking verb).

The children were ashamed.

The professor remained aloof.

The trees were ablaze. 

Occasionally, however, you will find a- adjectives before the word they modify: the alert patient, the aloof physician. Most of them, when found before the word they modify, are themselves modified: the nearly awake student, the terribly alone scholar. And a- adjectives are sometimes modified by "very much": very much afraid, very much alone, very much ashamed, etc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Royal Order of Adjectives

by Jacquelyn Landis 
 
 

Have you ever wondered why we instinctively say “the shiny new red car” and not “the red new shiny car”? The reason is that there is a royal order for adjectives, and most native English speakers learn to use it as we’re forming our first complete sentences.  

Adjectives fall into categories, and those categories comprise the royal order:  

Determiner (articles and other limiters: the book, your car) 

Observation or opinion (a genuine fraud, an interesting book, an expensive watch) 

Size and Shape (tiny, fat, square) 

Age (young, old, new) 

Color (blue, sea-green) 

Origin (American, Chinese) 

Material (describing what something is made of: silk, copper, wooden) 

Qualifier (final adjective, often an integral part of the noun: vacation resort, wedding dress, race car)  

Typically, writers know better than to string together more than two or three adjectives at a time, and we don’t seem to struggle too much in getter their order straight. Where it gets confusing is in deciding when to use commas to separate a string of adjectives.  

You probably already know that equal adjectives should be separated by commas, as in this example:  

The singer wore a beaded, feathered costume.  

“Beaded” and “feathered” are equal adjectives, ones that belong to the same category (material) in the royal order. You could switch their position, and the rhythm of the sentence would still be correct.  

However, when you create a string of adjectives, be mindful of both their proper order and of the fact that you needn’t use commas to separate adjectives of a different category.  

The singer wore an antique purple beaded, feathered costume.  

Only one comma is necessary in the above sentence because “beaded” and “feathered” are the only adjectives belonging to the same category.  

If you’re ever in doubt about where to place commas in a string of adjectives, refer to the royal order. It’ll be your faithful guide.

Related Articles

Royal Order of Adverbs

Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives

Comparative Forms of Adjectives

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8 Responses to “The Royal Order of Adjectives”

Jon on October 23, 2009 1:41 am  

It does raise the question “Why is it called the Royal Order of Adjectives?” 

To which monarch can we attribute this grammatical rule? 

Presumably it’s a British monarch – unless it’s a convention adopted from some other monarchy. Do other languages have the same kind of conventions? 

In French some adjectives come before the noun, others after, if I remember rightly…

Cid on October 23, 2009 12:37 pm  

Under the Qualifier topic, shouldn’t the wording be “getting” instead of “getter”?

Autumn on October 23, 2009 3:26 pm  

Very helpful – I was just wrestling with this the other night. 

Thanks for the post!

Charity on October 23, 2009 4:31 pm  

@ Jon: 

I remember being taught the “BAGS” mnemonic in French class… We were told that adjectives come after the noun in French, except when they are descriptors of beauty, age, goodness, or size. I don’t know how accurate this is, but it was certainly easy to remember and apply.

Mary Hodges on October 23, 2009 10:03 pm  

Interesting. I’d never heard of the “Royal Order” but just put adjectives in the order that sounded right to me.

You can of course play around and change the order for emphasis or to alter the meaning. For example:

An old lady’s black bike.

An old black lady’s bike.

A black old lady’s bike.

A lady’s old black bike.

A black lady’s old bike.

depending on whether it is the lady or the bike or both that is old or black.

The only combination that sounds wrong to me is

A lady’s black old bike.  

(I know that the usual usage is “ladies’ bike” to refer to a bike without a crossbar, but it looked wrong here!)

Pedro on November 24, 2009 2:04 pm  

When I learned English, they showed me a video that taught us learners how to remember this. It used the word OPSHACOM. I never forgot it. 

O: opinion

SH: shape

A: age

C: color

O: origin

M: material 

Whenever in doubt, remember: OPSHACOM!

kirby on December 6, 2010 9:10 pm  

thanks it was hard searching,this website is great!

kalqlate on August 4, 2011 12:45 pm  

Mary Hodges said:  

“Interesting. I’d never heard of the “Royal Order” but just put adjectives in the order that sounded right to me.” 

Yes, as children, most native English speakers learn the rules through constant observation and use. However, in what case of her examples, “what sounded right” was wrong. 

On this excellent page, 

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu.....ctives.htm, 

under the title,  

The Order of Adjectives in a Series, 

in the table, you will see that age is always written before color. 

Therefore, Mary Hodges example of… 

A black old lady’s bike. 

…is incorrect for two reasons: 

(1) according to the chart, color should appear after age, 

(2) the meaning of the sentence is ambiguous because it can be equally interpreted as: 

A (black) (old lady’s) bike. = An (old lady’s) (black) bike. 

or 

An (old black lady’s) bike. 

Following and applying the Royal Order of Adjectives would avoid such ambiguities and possible misinterpretations. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Play's the Thing ... 

Greetings, 

"Act I, Scene I - enter a man swimming for his life ..." 

Now if that's not an opening to have you sitting on the edge of your seat, I don't know what is! Who needs to fill in any background material when you can be "...conducted ... at once to scenes of wild excitement and to situations of terrible distress?" 

That heart-stopping opening is from the Very Reverend Samuel Reynolds Hole, Victorian dean of Rochester. Bet no-one nodded off in his sermons! The good reverend also relates hearing about an example of "compressed genius" from a traveller he met on board the sip, the Orient, while on a trip to Australia.  It's a short (very short) play called, "The Emigrant's Return" and is as follows: 

"The Emigrant's Return"  

In one Act 

Scene - a cottage in Ireland. Enter Emigrant, who surveys the dwelling with emotion, and knocks at door. Door opens. Enter Inmate. 

Emigrant: Is my father alive? 

Inmate: He is not. 

Emigrant: Is my mother living? 

Inmate: She is not. 

Emigrant: Is there any whiskey in the house? 

Inmate: There is not. 

Emigrant: [sighs heavily] This is indeed a woeful day! [Dies] 

Slow music. Curtain. 

It has it all, doesn't it? Homecoming; expectation and disappointment; life and death. All in all, a poignant little tale. 

Best seller material?  

Hmmm ... maybe not. 

Then there's the self-published novel, The Great American Parade, which tells the story of the president who secretly arranges "a giant parade in Washington honoring the richest people in America, who would march front to back in order of their net worth..." 

Can't wait to read more? This is the reviewer's summing up of the book: "...(the) book is printed on very white, shiny paper." 

OK ... maybe you're not rushing out to buy that one either. 

No doubt about it, there are some English and American, old, story-telling, little, weird writers out there. 

Huh? 

What have I done? 

I've upset the Royal Order of Adjectives, that's what I've done.  

The Order is: Determiner, Observation, Size, Shape, Age, Colour, Origin, Material, Qualifier ... so I could tell you about those amazing little square antique black English wooden book stands I found last weekend and you'd not even look up, would you? 

But since you're reading this, you're probably wringing your hands by now ... searching high and low for the missing commas ... or are you? The Rule is that you use a comma "to separate coordinate adjectives. You could think of this as "That tall, distinguished, good looking fellow" rule (as opposed to "the little old lady"). If you can put an and or a but between the adjectives, a comma will probably belong there. For instance, you could say, "He is a tall and distinguished fellow" or "I live in a very old and run-down house." So you would write, "He is a tall, distinguished man" and "I live in a very old, run-down house." But you would probably not say, "She is a little and old lady," or "I live in a little and purple house," so commas would not appear between little and old or between little and purple." (Source) 

Some people whack in commas between every adjective, but it's not really necessary as you'll see when you add a couple of commas and try the AND test with our previous string of adjectives: those amazing, little, square, antique, black English wooden book stands.  

This would then read as: those amazing but little and square and antique and black English wooden book stands.  

Too much, isn't it? 

How about this?  ... those amazing, little square antique black English wooden book stands.  

Try the test: those amazing but little square antique black English wooden book stands. 

That works for me! But it all depends on where you want to place the emphasis in your sentence. 

Oh, and using  the Royal Order would make our original sentence as follows: 

... there are some weird little old English and American story-telling writers out there. 

Here's a story about a person of a particular sex with a particular colour hair, but I'm not allowed to tell you which ... just in case ... well, you know how it is ...  

Ice Fishing 

  A person wanted to go ice fishing, so after getting all of the right

  tools, the person headed toward the nearest frozen lake. 

  After getting comfy on the stool this person started to cut a circular hole in

  the ice. Then from the heavens a voice boomed,  ''THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE.'' 

  Startled, the person moved further down the ice, poured a thermos of hot

  chocolate and started to cut yet another hole in the ice. The voice

  boomed,  ''THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE.'' 

  This time quite scared, the person moved to the far end of the ice,

  started another hole and once again the voice said,  ''THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE.'' 

  The very scared person looked up at the sky and said, ''Is that you, Lord?''