Class 12 English Grammar Unit 20 Adjective Order Exercise

Unit 20 Grammar PDF 

It's enjoyable if you appreciate language, but I never had ESL students who were advanced enough for me to bother with it. This is something that comes naturally to native speakers, who can arrange the words in whichever sequence "sounds right." If you're an advanced student, it may be a real nightmare.

There is a mnemonic that some people use: DOSAS COMP.

Trick: DOSASCOMP

If you count "Determiner," there are nine places in English for adjectives, including things like "five," "a," "the," "his," "her," "many," "many," etc.

When it comes to using multiple adjectives to describe a noun, it can be confusing. It can be tricky to remember the correct order. But, there's a helpful trick you can use to make it easier.

Just remember the code OSASCOMP. It means Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose.

This means that when you have multiple adjectives, you should list them in the following order:

Opinion - an adjective that describes your opinion or attitude towards the noun.

Size - an adjective that describes the size of the noun.

Age - an adjective that describes the age of the noun.

Shape - an adjective that describes the shape of the noun.

Color - an adjective that describes the color of the noun.

Origin - an adjective that describes the origin or nationality of the noun.

Material - an adjective that describes the material the noun is made of.

Purpose - an adjective that describes the purpose or use of the noun.

So, if you want to describe a beautiful small old round red Italian leather purse, the correct order would be: Opinion (beautiful) + Size (small) + Age (old) + Shape (round) + Color (red) + Origin (Italian) + Material (leather) + Purpose (purse).

Using this trick can make it much easier to remember the correct order of multiple adjectives. It can help you to write more descriptive and clear sentences.

Types	Examples
Determiner Adjectives	a/an/the/my/his/some/few etc
Opinion Adjectives	beautiful, ugly, interesting, etc
Size Adjectives	small, big, large, etc
Age Adjectives	new, old, ancient etc
Shape Adjectives	round, square, oval, etc.
Color Adjectives	red, black, blue, etc
Origin Adjectives	Indian, Chinese, Japanese etc
Material Adjectives	golden, wooden, etc
Purpose Adjectives	relaxing, fighting, jumping etc

Watch this video, where I have explained Adjective Order in Simple Way:

 

Textbook Exercise Solution

Adjective Order

B. Choose the correct alternative. 

a. an old foreign car / a foreign old çar 

An old foreign car 

b. a beautiful white dress/ a white beautiful dress 

A beautiful white dress 

c. a nice tail young manla tall nice young man 

A nice tall young man 

d. a big black wooden desk/ a black wooden big desk 

A big black wooden desk 

e. a delicious Italian pizza / an Italian delicious pizza 

A delicious Ttattant pizza 

f. a huge brown bear / A brown huge bear 

A huge brown bear 

g. a purple cotton sleeping bag / a cotton purple sleeping bag 

A purple cotton sleeping bag 

h. a beautiful old Indian village / an old beautiful Indian village 

An old beautiful Indian village 

i. a cute little kitten/ a little cute kitten 

A cute little kitten 

j. an expensive antique lan antique expensive table 

An antique expensive table 

C. Put the adjectives in the following sentences in the correct order. 

a. I bought /a /comfortable/new) scooter. 

I bought a comfortable new red scooter. 

b. She reached home and sat on (relaxing/old/her/wooden) hair. 

She reached home and sat on her old wooden relaxing chair. 

c. We ate (Chinese/delicious/some) food. 

We ate some delicious Chinese food. 

d. I need (golden/delicious/some/round) apples. 

I need some delicious round golden apples. 

e. We like to live in a (calm/unmediated/remote) place for some time. 

We would like to live in a calm unmediated remote place for 

some time. 

f. She is wearing (silver/beautiful / a(n)/ old) ring. 

She is wearing a beautiful old silver ring. 

g. I am looking for (golden/stylish/a/Japanese) leather watch. 

I am looking for a stylish golden Japanese leather watch. 

h. She dropped (old/china/attractive/a(n)) cup and smashed it. 

She dropped an attractive old China cup and smashed it. 

i. He wants to marry a (young/pretty/educated/a(n)/rustic) girl. 

He wants to marry a pretty young educated rustic girl. 

j. We stayed in a (luxurious/five star/new) hotel in Dubai. 

We stayed in a new luxurious five-star hotel in Dubai.