Order of Adjectives & Comma Use with Paired Adjectives

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun.

For example, we can write "He's a funny young boy," 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.

It is correct to write, "I have a small red car", but it is not correct to write, "I have a red small car".

When you use two adjectives together, you sometimes use "and" between them and you sometimes don't.

When you use two adjectives together (also called paired adjectives), you sometimes use a comma between them and sometimes don't use a comma.

This page will explain the different types of adjectives, the correct order for them, the rule for using "and" with paired adjectives, and the general rule for using a comma between paired adjectives.

Types of Adjectives - OSASCOMP

Type	Definition and Examples
Opinion	An opinion adjective explains what you think about something. Examples: funny, beautiful, fabulous, difficult
Size	A size adjective tells you how big or small something is. Examples: large, tiny, enormous, little
Age	An age adjective describes the shape of something. Examples: ancient, new, young, old
Shape	A shape adjective describes the shape of something. Examples: square, round, flat, rectangular
Color	A color adjective describes the color of something. Examples: blue, pink, reddish, gray
Origin	An origin (or nationality) adjective describes where something comes from. Examples: Mexican, Chinese, eastern, northern, lunar, solar
Material	A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples: wooden, metal, cotton, paper, stone
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 pan")

Can you identify what type of adjective a word is? Click on a "Quiz Me" link below, read the sentence, and choose what type (category) of adjective is used.

In the sentence, "The intelligent students did well on the test", "intelligent" is an adjective of

a. opinion

b. origin

c. material

Partially correct.

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In the sentence, "The supermarket uses plastic bags", "plastic" is an adjective of

a. color

b. purpose

c. material

Partially correct.

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In the sentence, "I live in a stucco house", "stucco" is an adjective of

a. material

b. opinion

c. size

Partially correct.

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In the sentence, "I enjoy eating at Italian restaurants", "Italian" is an adjective of

a. shape

b. origin

c. age

Partially correct.

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In the sentence, "I need to buy a baking pan", "baking" is an adjective of

a. purpose

b. shape

c. material

Partially correct.

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In the sentence, "I don't have any square pans", "square" is an adjective of

a. size

b. shape

c. origin

Partially correct.

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Order of Adjectives - OSASCOMP

Although there are some exceptions, the general order of adjectives in a pair or series is as follows:

determiner	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Color	Origin	Material	Purpose	noun
a/an/the	handsome		young			German			man
one/two/three		huge		round			metal		bowls
this/that	smart	little							girl
my/your/his			old		red			sleeping	bag

Can you put the adjectives in the right order? Click on the links below to try.

Using "and" with Paired Adjectives

When two adjectives are used together to describe a noun, they are sometimes called "paired adjectives" (they are also sometimes called coordinate & cumulative adjectives). Although there are some exceptions (for example, "I bought a black and white shirt."), the general rule for using "and" is this:

If the paired adjectives come BEFORE the noun, DO NOT USE "and".

Correct: She went to a fabulous French restaurant.

NOT CORRECT: She went to a fabulous and French restaurant.

If the paired adjectives come AFTER the noun, USE "and".

Correct: The restaurant is fabulous and French.

NOT CORRECT: The restaurant is fabulous French.

Do you know where an "and" is needed? Click on the links below to try.

The following is correct:

She has big and flat feet.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! The paired adjectives come before the noun, so "and" is not needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. The adjectives "big" and "flat" come before the noun "feet", so "and" is not used.

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The following sentence is correct:

Her feet are big flat.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! The paired adjectives come after the noun, so "and" is needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. The adjectives "big" and "flat" come after the noun "feet", so "and" is needed between them.

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Choose the correct sentence:

a. He has a shiny gold tooth.

b. He has a shiny and gold tooth.

c. He has a tooth shiny gold.

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! The paired adjectives come before the noun, so "and" is not needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. The adjectives need to come before the noun with no "and", OR after the verb and separated by "and". Only the first sentence does both.

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Choose the correct sentence:

a. His tooth is gold shiny.

b. His shiny and gold tooth is.

c. His tooth is shiny and gold.

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! The paired adjectives come after the noun, so "and" is needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. Both adjectives need to come immediately before the noun, OR after the noun and linking verb. If they come after the verb, "and" is used between them.

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Commas with Paired Adjectives

How do you know when to use a comma between paired adjectives and when not to use a comma? It depends on the type of adjectives that are in the pair.

We can use two different types of adjectives to describe one noun.

For example, we can use an adjective of sizeand an adjective of origin to describe one thing, as in "She met a tall American man".

We can also use two similar types of adjectives to describe one noun.

For example, we can use two adjectives of opinion, as in "She met a handsome, mysterious man.

Although there are some exceptions, the general rule for using a comma between paired adjectives is this:

If the paired adjectives come BEFORE the noun AND giveDIFFERENT TYPES of information, DO NOT USE A COMMA between them.

Correct: She went to a fabulous French restaurant.

NOT Correct: She went to a fabulous, French restaurant.

"fabulous" is an adjective of opinion, and "French" is an adjective of origin or nationality. They give different types of information, so comma is not needed between them. Notice that you also cannot reverse their order. You CANNOT say, "She went to a French fabulous restaurant".

If the paired adjectives come BEFORE the noun AND giveSIMILAR TYPES of information, USE A COMMA between them.

Correct: She ate some delicious, elegant food.

NOT Correct: She ate some delicious elegant food.

"delicious" and "elegant" are both adjectives of opinion. They give similar types of information, so a comma is needed between them. Notice that you can also reverse their order. You CAN say, "She ate some elegant, delicious food".

If the paired adjectives come AFTER the noun, USE "and" with NO COMMA. It does not matter what types of adjectives are in the pair.

Correct: The restaurant was fabulous and French.

NOT Correct: The restaurant was fabulous, French.

NOT Correct: The restaurant was fabulous, and French.

Correct: The food was delicious and elegant.

NOT Correct: The food was delicious, elegant.

NOT Correct: The food was delicious, and elegant.

Do you know where a comma is needed? Click on the links below to try.

The following sentence has correct punctuation:

She bought a plastic, watering can.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! They are different types of adjectives, so a comma is not needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. They are different types of adjectives, so no comma is needed. "Plastic" tells the material, and "watering" tells the purpose.

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The following sentence has correct punctuation:

He has nice generous neighbors.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! They are similar types of adjectives, so a comma is needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. The adjectives give similar types of information. "Nice" and "generous" are both opinions, so a comma should be used between them.

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The following sentence has correct punctuation:

They live in a big old house.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! They are different types of adjectives, so a comma is not needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. They are different types of adjectives, so no comma is needed. "big" tells the size, and "old" tells the age.

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The following sentence has correct punctuation:

She loves to eat spicy Thai food.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! They are different types of adjectives, so a comma is not needed.

Sorry, incorrect answer. They are different types of adjectives, so no comma is needed. "spicy" tells an opinion, and "Thai" tells the origin/nationality.

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The following sentence is correct:

Their dog is obedient, loving.

True

False

Partially correct.

Right! Good job! The adjectives come after the noun and verb, so "and" is needed, not a comma.

Sorry, incorrect answer. The two adjectives come after the noun and verb, so an "and" with no comma is needed between them.

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