Vaasa’s Market Square boasts a variety of stylish modern and beautiful old buildings.
Now here is something that perhaps you haven’t thought about, and indeed neither had I until I started teaching English. To a native speaker it is learned as a child and just feels like the ‘natural order of things’, but different types of adjectives are set in a certain order when used together. It is natural for me to say, “A beautiful big blue ball,” and it feels quite wrong to say, “A blue, big beautiful ball.” The basic ‘rule’ is this:
Whose it is – opinions – size – shape – age – colour – origin – material
Of course, it is not often that we use all of these, but the order remains the same.
Examples:
Have you seen my beautiful big round antique green mahogany Chinese table?
Perhaps you’d like to try our delicious new Mexican full-corn pizza.
This dress material is a wonderfully light Chinese silk.
He is a really lively 10-year-old English lad.
The word ‘new’ doesn’t really belong in the ‘age’ category. It is best placed after the opinion words, as in:
I have a lovely new car.
Have fun creating hilarious new English sentences )
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