OXFORD LEARNER''''S GRAMMAR 7 pptx

185 The order of adjectives

speaker's opinion, come firs!. Words expressing purpose o r type, such as

electromc, come later.

B We sometimes use two nouns together.

the town wall lhe Finance Minister winter evenings

Here we usc the nouns town and finance like adjectives, to modify wall and

minister. When we use both adjective and noun modifiers, then the

adjectives come firs!.

the old lawn wall the former Finance Minister dark winter evenings

C The different kinds of modifier usually go in the following order. An adjective

in Group I comes first, and a word from Group 1 J goes closest to the noun.

1 Opinion: beautiful, nice, wonderful, excellent, awful, etc

2 Size: long, large, small, short, tall. etc

3 Most other Qualities: clear, busy, famous, friendly. soft. qUiet, etc

4 Age: new, old

5 Shape: round, square, fal, chin, wide, narrow, etc

6 Colour: bJue, red, while, black. etc

7 Participle forms: running. missing, covered, broken, etc

8 Origin: British, lealian, American, Chinese, etc

9 Material: sandy. wooden, brick. paper. plastic, etc

10 Type: electronic, human, chemicaJ, domestic, urban,

money (problems), etc

II Purpose: alarm (clock), tennis (cou.rl), walking (boots),

etc

Here are some examples.

an old cardboard box (age + material)

a German industrial company (origin + type)

a large black pocket handkerchief (size + colour + type)

plastic packaging mmerials (material + purpose)

a small square room (size + shape)

a new improved formula (age + parriciplc form)

a nice, friendly person (opinion + quality)

two excellent public tennis courts (opinion + type + purpose)

In general, the modifier closest lO the noun has the closest association with

the noun. For example, in the phrase cwo excellent public tennis courts, the

word tennis is closely associated with courts, whe reas excellent does not h ave

sllch a clear connection wi th courts.

The rules are not absolute, and the order ca n sometimes be different. For

example, we sometimes prefer to put a short adjective before a long one.

a big horrible building

NOTE

Otd ami YOllng referring lO people often come next to the noun.

a dignified old lady a pale young mall

Here old and young arc not stro ngly stressed.

253

Adjectives

o A modifier can l:onsist of a rw ~wo rd compound.

a powerful high ~speed electric drill

an IB ~carat gold chain

an old pale blue football shirt

E Sometimes we use two adjectives of simil ar meaning, for example two from

Group 3 in C. When thiS happens, the shorter one orten comes first.

a bright, cheerful smile a soft, comfortable chair

Sometimes (\"0 different orders are both possihle.

a peaceful, happy place I a happy, peaceful place

V'le often put a comma (or a short pause in speech) between two adjectives o(

similar meaning.

F We sometimes put and be tween two attributive adjec tives.

a soft, comfortable chair I a soft and comfortable chair

We can do this when the adjectives have a similar meaning. But we do not

normally use and be(\veen adjectives with different kinds of meanings.

a beautiful sandy beach (opinion + material)

We use and when the adjectives refer to different parts of something.

a black and .white sweater (panly black and partly while)

We use but when me adjectives refer to two qualities in contrast.

a cheap but effecrive solution

G The order of predi cati ve adjectives is less fixed than the order before a noun.

We normally use mId before the last adjective.

The chair was soft and comfortable.

We were a/l cold, wet, and hungry.

An adjective expressing an opinion often comes last

The city is old alld beautiful.

We can use bllt when the two quaJiries are in contrast.

The so/ulion is cheap bllt effective I cheap and effective.

Nom

In informal English we can use nice andllovely and before an adjective expressing a

desirable qualilY· The room UHIS nice and warm. (= nicely warm)

186 Gradable and ungradable adjectives

254

Most adjectives are gradable - they express qualities which can exist in

different grades or degrees. For example, we can talk about different degrees

187 Amusing and amused. interesting and Interested

of warmth, difficulty, or tiredness.

/t's very/extremely warm today.

I thought the test questions were fa irly difficull.

f feel a bit tired now.

Some adjectives are ungradable. Many of them express qualities such as

magnificence or perfec tion, which cannot exist in different degrees. We do

not normally usc words like /Jery, extremely,fairly, or a bit with an ungradable

adjective, but we can use absolutely.

It's absolutely boiling today. I feel absolutely exhausted now.

With some ungradable adjectives we can also use completely or totally.

You're asking something that's completely impossible, I'm afraid.

It's a totally incredible swry.

Here arc some examples of ungradable adjectives.

absurd delicious exhausting ideal stunning

amazed delighted extraordinary impossible terrible

amazing determined false incomprehensible terrific

appalled devastated fascinated incredible terrified

appalling devastating fascinating ludicrous terrifying

aWful dreadful ghastly magnificent thrilled

brilliant enormous gorgeous marvellous thrilling

certain essential horrible perfect useless

complete exhausted huge ridiculous vast

We can lise really and so with both gradable and ungradable adjectives.

The food was really good/so good.

The food was really delicious/so delicious.

TIP

Don't use very with an ungradable adjective like freezing or excellent.

Say It's freezing or ]t's very cold but NOT ~e" freezing.

Say It's excellent or /t"s very good but NOT It's l;Ie" exeelielH.

NOTE

a Sometimes in informal speech, rather, fairly, or pretty is used with an

ungradabJe adjective.

The task ts fairly ir1l1mssible. I feel pretty exhausted flOW.

h For the meanmg of quite \vith a gr<ldablelungradablc adjective, > 197.

~7 Amusing and amused, interesting and

interested

Compare the adjectives ending in ·ing and -ed.

255

Adjectives

The film made us laugh a lot. Il was

very amusing.

I talked to an interesting man.

I find these statistics confusing.

This weat.her is depressing, isn't it?

Adjectives ending in -ing express the

idea that something affects us. A film

is amusing because it makes us

laugh. It can also he interesting,

The audience laughed a lot. They

were very amused.

I was interested in what he was

telling :me.

I'm. confused by these statistics.

Don't you [eel depressed when it

rains so much?

Adjectives ending in -ed express the

feelings we have about something.

We are amused when we see

something funny. We can also be

exciting, or boring . imerested, exciled, or bored.

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Some pairs of adjectives like this are:

alarming, amazing, amusing,

annoying, boring, confusing,

depressing, disappointing, exciting,

exhausring, fascinating, frightening,

interesting, pleasing, puzzling,

relaxing, shocking, surprising,

thrilling, tiring, worrying

alarmed, amazed, amused,

annoyed, bored, confused,

depressed, disappointed, excited,

exhausted, fascinated, frightened,

interested, pleased, puzzled,

relaxed, shocked, surprised,

thrilled, tired, worried

188 The + adjective

A The poor, the disabled, etc

Z56

We can use the + adjective to refer to some groups of people in SOCiety.

In those days the poor had a miserable time.

(= poor people in general)

There are more churchgoers among the old than among the young.

(= old/young people in general)

We can also say poor people, old people, etc with the same general meaning.

In those days poor people had a miserable time.

\.vhen we want to talk about a specific person or group of people, we use

a young man, the old people, etc.

A young man has been arrested. (NOT A-yottng-has-. .. )

The old people have gone on a coach trip. (NOT -Fhe-oId-httfte-gOtte-. .. )

The + adjective takes a plural verb.

The old are more frequently ill than lhe rest of the population.

But we do not add an ·s to the adjective. (NOT t-Ite-t!ld3)

Some adjeclives and participle forms llsed in this way are: hlin.d, dead, deaf,

disabled, disadvQlllaged, elderly, handicapped, homeless, hungry, tilling,

middle-aged, old, poor, privileged, rich, sick, Sighted, strong, underprivileged,

unempLoyed, weak, young.