Practice
Adjectives exercise: choose natural descriptions in context
At a market, you might ask for a small ripe mango, then describe a basket as heavy. The adjectives do different jobs, but each one needs a natural place in the sentence.
Choose adjectives that fit the meaning, place them naturally before or after a noun, and use a common order when several adjectives appear together.
Read and practice
Read the examples and try the written questions in this guide. Listening recordings are not available for this lesson yet.
Try the written questions
a bright little flat /ə braɪt ˈlɪtəl flæt/
The short answer
Put a single describing adjective before the noun or after a linking verb such as be. With several adjectives, start with an opinion or size, then add details such as age, colour, origin, material, and purpose.
We found a small wooden box in the attic.
Why it works: Small gives size before wooden, which gives material, and both come before box.
3 more examples
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Mina bought a warm woollen scarf for the journey.
Warm describes the scarf's quality, and woollen names its material. The quality comes before the material.
Not this:The woollen scarf
felt warmafter Mina put it on. What changes: After the linking verb felt, warm describes the scarf rather than standing before the noun. -
They rented a bright little flat near the park.
Bright gives an impression of the flat, while little gives its size. English commonly puts the opinion or impression before size.
Not this:The little flat
looked brightin the morning sun. What changes: Bright follows looked because it completes the description of the flat after a linking verb. -
Our guide showed us an old stone bridge outside the village.
Old gives age and stone gives material. Age normally comes before material in this kind of noun phrase.
Not this:The stone bridge
is oldbut still safe to cross. What changes: Old comes after is because the sentence makes a statement about the bridge.
Read the full guide
Start with the noun you want to describe. Then decide whether your adjective belongs directly before it or completes the idea after a linking verb. If you add two or more adjectives, keep the most general impression before more factual details.
Find the noun you are describing
First find the person, thing, or idea that needs a description. In a noisy café, café is the noun and noisy tells you what the café is like. In an interesting lesson, lesson is the noun and interesting gives the description.
We chose a quiet table near the window.
Table is the noun. Quiet helps us identify the kind of table the speakers chose.
In a crowded bus, which word is the adjective?
Crowded is the adjective. It describes bus, which is the noun.
Put one adjective before the noun
The usual place for one adjective is before the noun. This pattern is useful when you introduce an item or make it clear which item you mean.
Please bring a clean glass for the water.
The museum has a useful audio guide.
Clean and useful come before the nouns they describe. They do not change for singular or plural nouns: a clean glass and clean glasses.
Use adjectives after linking verbs
After be, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste, become, and similar linking verbs, an adjective describes the subject. The verb links the subject to its description; it does not show an action happening to an object.
The instructions seem clear now.
This coffee smells strong.
Say the instructions seem clear, not the instructions seem clearly. Clearly is an adverb, but clear is needed to describe instructions.
Choose the natural word: The children were happy or The children were happily?
Use happy. After were, the word describes the children. Happily would describe how they performed an action, as in The children laughed happily.
Keep a natural order with several adjectives
When two or more adjectives come before a noun, a useful order is opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, and purpose. You do not need every category. Use the order only for the details you actually want to include.
He carried a beautiful small blue bag.
Beautiful gives an opinion, small gives size, and blue gives colour. That order sounds more natural than blue small beautiful bag.
We ate from a round metal tray.
Round describes shape and metal describes material, so shape comes before material.
Choose details that help the listener
A correct adjective order is useful, but a sentence also needs a clear purpose. Add an adjective when it helps someone identify, imagine, compare, or evaluate something. Leave it out when it repeats information the listener already knows.
Take the red folder, not the green one.
Colour matters because it distinguishes two folders. In a message about one known folder, simply saying Take the folder may be enough.
You are choosing between two buses, one fast and one slow. How can an adjective make your choice clear?
Say Let's take the faster bus. Faster gives the comparison that explains the choice.
Before you go
Remember this
Use adjectives before a noun or after a linking verb. When several adjectives come before a noun, put a broad impression or size before details such as age, colour, origin, material, and purpose. Choose only the details your sentence needs.
Practice with the written examples
You can practice with the written questions in the Learn tab. Each answer includes an explanation.
Try the written questionsListening test not available yet
This lesson does not have the recordings needed for a listening test. Use the written questions in the guide to check your understanding.
Try the written questionsQuestions about "Adjectives exercise: choose natural descriptions in context"
Where do adjectives usually go in English?
An adjective often comes before a noun, as in a quiet table. It can also follow a linking verb, as in the table is quiet. Choose the position that matches the sentence pattern.
Mina bought a warm woollen scarf for the journey.
What is the usual order for several adjectives?
A useful order is opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, and purpose. For example, English normally places size before colour and age before material.
The woollen scarf felt warm after Mina put it on.
Why do we say the soup smells good instead of smells well?
In this use, smells is a linking verb, so good describes the soup. Well is usually an adverb for how an action is performed, although it can describe health in some contexts.
They rented a bright little flat near the park.
Do adjectives change for plural nouns?
Most English adjectives do not change for plural nouns. You can say a clean glass and clean glasses. The noun changes from singular to plural, while clean stays the same.
The little flat looked bright in the morning sun.
Should I use many adjectives in one noun phrase?
Use only the descriptions that help your listener or reader. Two or three well-chosen details are often clearer than a long list, especially in everyday speech.
Our guide showed us an old stone bridge outside the village.