93. Order of adjectives

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun -- for example, "He's a silly young fool," or "she's a smart, energetic woman." When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type.
1. Opinion An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). Examples: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult
2. Size A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. Examples: large, tiny, enormous, little
3. Age An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples: ancient, new, young, old
4. Shape A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples: square, round, flat, rectangular
5. Color A color adjective, of course, describes the color of something. Examples: blue, pink, reddish, grey
6. Origin An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
7. Material A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples: wooden, metal, cotton, paper
8. Purpose A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples: sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin") Ex. I have a small red sleeping bag.

Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives. You could think of this as "That tall, distinguished, good looking fellow" rule (as opposed to "the little old lady"). If you can put an and or a but between the adjectives, a comma will probably belong there. For instance, you could say, "He is a tall and distinguished fellow" or "I live in a very old and run-down house." So you would write, "He is a tall, distinguished man" and "I live in a very old, run-down house." But you would probably not say, "She is a little and old lady," or "I live in a little and purple house," so commas would not appear between little and old or between little and purple.