{"id":6061,"date":"2019-07-25T12:27:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T10:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nllanguagep-bali.savviihq.com\/?p=6061"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:30:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:30:22","slug":"the-magic-in-stringing-together-adjectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/english\/the-magic-in-stringing-together-adjectives\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic in stringing together adjectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arranging words in the right order<\/h2>\n

If you think you know everything there is to know about the English language<\/a> \u2013 think again! This article will introduce a binding rule of English syntax (i.e. the arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence) that many native English speakers often use correctly but have absolutely no idea why. As a non-native speaker, you can master this magical rule and get one step closer to speaking like a true native speaker.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s an adjective?<\/h2>\n

An adjective, as defined in the Oxford Dictionary<\/a>, is a word naming an attribute of a noun (a word used to identify any of a class of people, place or things), such as sweet, red or technical. In short, we use adjectives to describe nouns. For example, we could say a \u2018beautiful day\u2019, a \u2018red chair\u2019 or a \u2018technical problem\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, once we begin to add multiple adjectives to describe a specific noun, we might wonder what sounds best: \u2018a large red chair\u2019 or \u2018a red large chair\u2019? A native speaker would tell you that \u2018a large red chair\u2019 is absolutely correct, but might not have the corresponding theory to provide you with an explanation off-the-cuff.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret?<\/h2>\n

When using multiple adjective to describe a noun, you can apply the following rule: opinion \u2013 size \u2013 age \u2013 shape \u2013 color \u2013 origin \u2013 material \u2013 purpose Noun. So, as explained by Mark Forsyth in his book The Elements of Eloquence<\/a>: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase (2013), you can certainly have a \u2018lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife\u2019 but if you mess with that word order in the slightest, you\u2019ll risk losing your near-native speaker charm. As size comes before color, you simply cannot have a \u2018red large chair\u2019.<\/p>\n

Test yourself<\/h2>\n

As you can see, English grammar rules can even come as a surprise to native speakers. Before you start sharing this rule with others \u2013 and completely blow their minds \u2013 try a few practice rounds and correct the following sentences:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We are looking forward to a long summer nice holiday.<\/li>\n
  2. Our new colleague appears to be a lanky bright young English man.<\/li>\n
  3. They recently bought a wooden large old round beautiful table.<\/li>\n
  4. He was jealous of my new shiny German black sports car.<\/li>\n
  5. I brought a round delicious large casserole to the family picnic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Scroll down for the right answers!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

    Answers<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. nice long summer<\/li>\n
    2. bright young lanky English<\/li>\n
    3. beautiful large old round wooden<\/li>\n
    4. shiny new black German<\/li>\n
    5. delicious large round<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Are you interested in improving your English, or other language<\/a> skills? We can help<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Arranging words in the right order If you think you know everything there is to know about the English language \u2013 think again! This article will introduce a binding rule of English syntax (i.e. the arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[332,274,652,275],"class_list":["post-6061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-dutch","tag-english","tag-language-course","tag-language-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe magic in stringing together adjectives - Language Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using multiple adjectives in a sentence can get quite confusing for non-native speakers. 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