Form
Determiner → Opinion → Size → Age → Shape → Color → Origin → Material → Purpose → Noun
(A common mnemonic is ‘OSASCOMP’)
a beautiful old Italian car (Opinion → Age → Origin)
a small red plastic box (Size → Color → Material)
an amazing new French film (Opinion → Age → Origin)
Meanings
A guide to the standard order of adjectives.
This order is not a strict rule, but a strong convention that native speakers follow automatically.
| Order | Category | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opinion | beautiful, horrible, amazing, lovely |
| 2 | Size | big, small, long, tall, tiny |
| 3 | Age | old, new, young, ancient |
| 4 | Shape | round, square, triangular |
| 5 | Color | red, blue, green, black |
| 6 | Origin | Italian, French, American, Chinese |
| 7 | Material | wooden, plastic, metal, silk |
| 8 | Purpose | sleeping (bag), running (shoes) |