Royal Order of Adjectives

Introduction:

He was wearing a black amazing shirt.
He was wearing an amazing black shirt.

Out of these two sentences which one do you think is correct?

This is a very basic simple sentence pattern in the present progressive tense. It has a subject, a present continuous verb, adjectives, and an object. This is the ideal condition for a sentence to be perfectly grammatically correct. Do you agree? You may agree, and I also agree as well but, what if I say that the Cambridge Dictionary of Cambridge University Press doesn’t agree with you and me? If you want to verify my words, here’s a link provided for your reference. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order

Different views about the adjective order:

Imagine you say, “I want to watch black and white films.” 

Do you ever say “I want to watch white and black films”?

A sentence with unnatural adjective order can be absolutely grammatically correct but may not be natural-sounding to native English speakers. Yes, we all know how to write simple grammatical sentences in English, even if we speak different languages. A sentence in English has to have a subject, and a verb is a must for the sentence to complete its meaning. It is good to have an object; even if there isn't, the sky is not going to fall on your head. And if there are adjectives, I'll put them before the noun. And that's it! I have a simple and grammatically correct sentence ready.

Hey, what else is there to talk more about?

Just make a sentence with adjectives in it, and that solves your problem, doesn't it? So let's write a sentence.

No, I beg you; there is no need to take any chances. Better yet, let's take a look at a sentence from a famous dictionary.

So in that case there won’t be any controversy, right? Let's take a very simple sentence from "The Cambridge Dictionary" by "Cambridge University Press". In that case, there would be no conflict, right?

Let the sentence be:  He was wearing a black amazing shirt.

Hey! Listen! There shouldn’t be any argument; I have given the link below. Is it okay now? https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order

What happened? What did you say? Are you saying the sentence is not correct?

Yes, you are absolutely right. The sentence is unacceptable. It’s totally unacceptable. It’s wrong to write and wrong to say. But where is the mistake in the sentence? We all know that the sentence structure is:

[S+V+O] (or sometimes) [Subject + Verb + Adjectives + Object] = A grammatically correct simple sentence. Isn’t it?

Let's get to the point.

The sentence is wrong. It's completely wrong. But, where's the mistake? The answer is, ‘The adjectives are not placed in the correct order in the sentence’.

What the hell is that? I had no opportunity to know this fact.

No, this is not an excuse. You are supposed to know this; I mean you have to know this. You have to know in what order all the adjectives should be placed in a sentence. You have to follow the rules. Otherwise, the sentence is incorrect. 

So, I had to bring back my own quote here again.  For those of you who don't know my 'quote', I'm posting the blog post link for you:
https://correctyoursentence.blogspot.com/2022/09/correct-your-grammar.html 

Reading the quote, you will surely understand that being so frustrated by the various strange rules of the English language; I had to write the quote. 

No matter how well you learn English grammar, it is your fault that English is not your mother tongue. So as long as you live, you must keep on learning. So in the above-mentioned sentence, the correct word order will be: He was wearing an amazing black shirt.  

You will notice that just by changing the positions of the adjectives the sentence becomes correct.

The adjective order ‘black amazing’ is not at all acceptable but ‘amazing black’ is perfectly acceptable.
What will you do now?
By memorizing which English grammar rules, will you be able to tell that your constructed sentence is correct?

I heard somewhere that, seriously thinking about our problem, some language experts have prepared some tables. They think that by following the tables we will be able to put the adjectives in the correct order in the sentence. Having no other means or alternative I went to my Aunt Google for help. Oh, God! So many men, so many minds!

Everybody says that they are right! Others are wrong!
(NB: Oh, by the way, I have the plan to write about "SINGULAR THEY" soon.)

I saw different types of charts and tables scattered around Aunt Google's chamber. I was perplexed to see these things all at a time. I was utterly confused about what to take and what to reject. In front of these language experts, I was totally confused about myself. Anyway, after reading all their opinion and logic I started to write my own chart/table of the adjective order.  

Their opinion is that if we can follow this table carefully, we will be able to put the adjectives in the correct order in a sentence. Okay, maybe this method is workable during writing, but what about while speaking? We won’t have time to think about the chart. Is it possible to carry this chart with us while speaking? No, practically, I mean in real life it is not possible.

Some wise people seemed to understand our problem. So they mentioned a slightly easier method. However, I will comment on it later.

Now, first of all, let's see what they call the proper placement of different adjectives in English grammar. Some of them say, “The royal order of adjectives”, some say it as “Adjective Word Order” and some even say, “Adjective Order”. Whatever the name, the thing is the same.

First, let's take a look at the table I've arranged.

Following the rules in this table, let's make a sentence.

It’s a useful small new rectangular black Japanese plastic counting machine.

Listen carefully: This is not my thing. I don’t even dare to say that this is how to arrange the adjectives. I have found this type of table in countless English learning sites. I just created a table and put some similar adjectives in each column. And following the instruction of the language experts I just arranged the adjectives in a sentence like this. I myself don’t know whether this type of sentence is at all accepted or not.

According to language experts, in order to follow the correct order of adjectives you have to remember this ‘mnemonic’, it is called ‘DOSASCOMP’. In the above table, I have clearly shown the meaning of each alphabet. Not only that, but in each column, you will find some common adjectives belonging to that particular column. The language experts say that the adjectives follow this order.

Now make some new sentences yourself and see if you have fun with them.

Let’s check the following sentences.

I have a green lovely bicycle. (Wrong)
I have a lovely green bicycle. (Correct)
She gave me an old interesting novel. (Wrong)
She gave me an interesting old novel. (Correct)
She has a wooden big white table. (Wrong)
She has a big white wooden table. (Correct)

This is all about the table of adjective order. But for a non-English speaker, it is absolutely impossible to speak in this way. You may have remembered that I already told you, that most likely some learned people figured out what exactly our real problem is. They also mentioned some slightly easier ways. Now I want to discuss a little about that topic.

I find this technique more practical. So, I want to talk about this topic here because I think it may be useful for you. It seems to me that it is not easy and practical to memorize the table. It is better to look for an easier way out.

Some Simple Techniques:

Some scholars suggested a few good techniques that sounded like they could be accepted.

1)

The first method is that we have to notice which of the adjectives in the sentence expresses "opinion" and which one expresses "fact". The “opinion” should come first and the “fact” should be nearer to the noun. Let’s take an example sentence to understand the method.

Let the sentence be: "He lives in an ugly old cottage."

Here, the adjective ‘ugly’ is just an ‘opinion’ only, because it may not be ugly to everybody. So it comes first. The next adjective is the word ‘old’. This is a fact; no one can deny this. So this adjective should be placed just before the noun ‘cottage’. You see, I have tried my level best to give you the most practical idea of how to think instantly during a real conversation.

And by the way, we have noticed that in general there may be one or two adjectives or at most three adjectives in a sentence normally. 

 2)  

Another method is that we have to notice which of the adjectives in the sentence expresses a "general idea" and which one expresses a "specific idea". In the same way, the adjective word which describes a general idea should come first and the specific idea should be placed second.

Let’s take a sentence: “I have a short plastic chair.”

Here the word ‘short’ can be used for various ideas, such as a short-sighted lady, a shortcut to success, etc. So it’s a general idea. Whereas, ‘plastic’ is a specific material that cannot be mentioned instead of any other material. So it’s a specific idea. I hope, I have explained it clearly. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to ask me in the comment box below.  

3)  

The other method suggested that we need to notice which of the adjectives in the sentence expresses "quantity" and which one expresses "quality". Quantity precedes quality.    

Here’s another simple sentence: "Two Old Men" is a great story. Did you ever hear anything like: ‘Old Two Men’?

I find these tricks are far more practical and easier than memorizing the entire complicated table. If you find these techniques interesting please write them in the comment box below.  

4)

But I still had doubts in my mind. I wasn't completely satisfied. To take away our fear of being wrong, some experts comforted us by saying that most sentences use no more than two or three adjectives together. I think it's a great consolation for us, the non-English speakers, isn't it?

5)

Another gentleman said impatiently: "What is the need to put several adjectives in a sentence? One is just enough!"
I bowed to him and somehow digested my inner anger. 

My Simplest Possible Solution:

And in case you have to use more than one adjective, then there is an extremely easy and perfect way to get the solution that I follow all the time and always get fantastic results. Today I am going to share with you that very special secret of mine.

There is a free Google app known as “Google Books Ngram Viewer”. You don't need any registration or login; nothing! Just open the site and paste your adjectives one by one and in a second you will get the most accurate result. I have provided the link for your input: https://books.google.com/ngrams/

Suppose the sentence is: “I have a green lovely bicycle.” And you're not sure about the 'adjective order'. Open the “Google Ngram Viewer” and you will see a search box. So what you need to do is type the two adjectives 'green lovely and lovely green' in the search box separated by a comma. In a second, the graph will show you the correct order of the adjectives. Try it for yourself and come back here in the article and write your experience. After you finish reading this article, kindly experiment with my tip; I promise you will gain a lot.

My Final Suggestion:

What I suggest is you; don’t even bother to make yourself busy with all these tips and tricks.

Listen carefully to the most common phrases the native English speakers use daily in their day-to-day activities. Try to mimic the phrases as many times as possible. By the word ‘mimic’, I mean, listening and repeating the phrases loudly, and trying to mimic them accurately. I assure you, you will get results so fast that you won’t even believe it! There's no harm in trying.

So, no more today, very soon we will meet again with another interesting topic like this, and till then, keep well and try mimicking the native English speakers. Thanks!   

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