The Royal Order of Adjectives

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Thursday, 22 October 2009 (22 October 2009)

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Have you ever wondered why we instinctively say “the shiny new red car” and not “the red new shiny car”? The reason is that there is a royal order for adjectives, and most native English speakers learn to use it as we’re forming our first complete sentences.
Adjectives fall into categories, and those categories comprise the royal order:
Determiner (articles and other limiters: the book, your car)
Observation or opinion (a genuine fraud, an interesting book, an expensive watch)
Size and Shape (tiny, fat, square)
Age (young, old, new)
Color (blue, sea-green)
Origin (American, Chinese)
Material (describing what something is made of: silk, copper, wooden)
Qualifier (final adjective, often an integral part of the noun: vacation resort, wedding dress, race car)
Typically, writers know better than to string together more than two or three adjectives at a time, and we don’t seem to struggle too much in getter their order…

By: Jacquelyn Landis
From: Daily Writing Tips » Grammar

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