Writing Prompts

Make Writing A Habit

The Order of Adjectives

You might be thinking, “Order of adjectives? Can’t I just lump them all together in front of the noun and call it a day?” It might surprise you to discover that when adjectives are presented in a series, there’s actually a particular order they must follow. Often, native English speakers follow this order out of habit, knowing that “the big red car” sounds better than “the red big car.”

However, for those just learning the language, understanding the correct order of adjectives can be tricky. Here is the order a list of adjectives should follow:

  1. Determiner
  2. Opinion
  3. Size
  4. Age
  5. Shape
  6. Color
  7. Material
  8. Origin
  9. Purpose

We’ll explain what each of these means and provide some examples so you can figure out exactly where you should be placing different types of adjectives in relation to your noun. (The noun here is puppies. Because everybody loves puppies.)

Determiner

Determiners include articles (a, an, or the) and other limiters (e.g., your, eight, or his).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The determiner in the example is ten (because you can never have too many puppies).

Opinion

An adjective of opinion describes an observation or what someone thinks about something (e.g., beautiful, tasty, or horrific).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The opinion in the example is lovable (even though some would argue that’s not so much an opinion as a fact).

Size

Size describes how big or small something is (e.g., big, small, minuscule, or enormous).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The size in the example is small.

Age

As you would expect, age describes how young or old something is (e.g., young, old, ancient, or new).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The age in the example is young. (We’re talking puppies, not dogs. Not everyone is a dog person, but everyone is a puppy person.)

Shape

The next descriptor is the shape of the item being described (e.g., round, square, or flat).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The shape in the example is pudgy. Awww!

Color

Over halfway there, folks! Next in the list is color (e.g., red, pinkish, or yellow).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The color is usually pretty easy to spot. In the example, it’s beige.

Material

The material describes what something is made out of (e.g., wooden, cotton, silver, or metal).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

Although we all know puppies are made out of love and happiness, technically speaking it’s probably more accurate to describe them as fuzzy.

Origin

Origin describes where something is from (e.g., French, western, or solar).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The origin in the example is French. (These are French bulldog puppies, a breed that originates, as you would expect, in France.)

Purpose

Purpose describes what something is used for or what it does (e.g., racing [as in racing car] or sleeping [as in sleeping bag]).

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

The purpose of these puppies is to be companions, so the adjective in the example is pet.

Noun

Now that you’ve listed all the adjectives, it’s time to identify the word you have been describing (i.e., the noun). Finally! We have reached the puppies.

Ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.

In the example, the noun is puppies, in case you didn’t get the memo . . .

Conclusion

While there are no rules limiting the number of adjectives that can be used, two or three are generally sufficient. (Otherwise, you begin to sound like Al Harrington of Family Guy marketing his Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubemen!) Most readers would prefer to read “pudgy, fuzzy puppies” than “ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies.” Though I’d take either, if we’re being perfectly honest.

The Language Sandwich: An Overview of the Nine Parts of Speech

Sandwiches are the best kind of food.

Not only do sandwiches contain different kinds of foods, but they are held together by even more food. You can eat them with your hands or with a knife and fork; you can eat them for breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner; you can make them sweet or savory, hot or cold; and you can make them with various parts of the English language (the nine parts of speech, to be exact).

Wait, what now?

Did I lose you at the end there? (Or maybe in the middle, where you got up to make yourself a delicious sandwich?) Yes, we can make a sandwich using grammar! And it will be an amazing sandwich, I assure you. After all, the English language has different components, or ingredients if you will, just as sandwiches do. It’s made up of the nine parts of speech, and they’re put together in such a way that everything just works. (Just like that confusingly delicious peanut butter and lettuce sandwich of grade school days. Don’t look at me like that. Just try it.)

We can think of the different parts of speech like different parts of the English language. This will be helpful for understanding how sentences are put together, and it’s also a great way to remember how everything fits together. I hope you’re hungry because it’s time to chow down!

The Nine Parts of Speech

If our recipe is “The English Language,” then our ingredients list consists of the nine parts of speech.

  1. Nouns (the bread)
  2. Verbs (the meat)
  3. Pronouns (the type of bread)
  4. Adverbs (the type of meat)
  5. Adjectives (the butter)
  6. Conjunctions (the cheese)
  7. Articles (the mayo)
  8. Prepositions (the lettuce)
  9. Interjections (the mustard)

Click to enlarge the adjacent infographic for a quick go-to guide detailing the parts of speech (and their edible equivalents). But stick with me, and I will define the parts of speech in more detail. By the end of this article, everything will make sense. Let’s start assembling that sandwich!

Nouns (The Bread)

We use nouns to name things, such as a person (e.g., Dagwood), an animal (e.g., a bear), an object (e.g., a grill), a place (e.g., Montreal), actions (e.g., creation), abstract ideas (e.g., love), or qualities (e.g., greed). The capitalized nouns here are all proper nouns, which means they refer to specific people or places, and the lowercase ones are common nouns.

Nouns are the bread of the sandwich. Without the bread, we’d just have a sloppy mess. The sentence kneads nouns. (See what I did there?) And just as there are many different kinds of bread, there are many different kinds of nouns. Nouns are the best thing since sliced bread. (Yeah, we went there.)

Verbs (The Meat)

A verb is used to describe an action (make, as in you make too many sandwiches), an event (toast, as in the bread is toasted), or a state (eat, as in I need to eat). Verbs have different types, tenses, and moods, and they must agree with their subjects to form a correct sentence.

Verbs are the meat of a sentence. A sentence does not exist without a verb, just as a sandwich does not exist without meat. (I can hear the vegetarians and peanut-butter-and-jelly lovers crying out at this point, but go with us here.) Just as you need both a noun and a verb to form a sentence, most people agree you need at least bread and meat to make a sandwich.

Pronouns (The Type of Bread)

Pronouns are used in place of nouns. The purpose of pronouns is to avoid repetition and make sentences easier to understand. A noun that is replaced by a pronoun is referred to as the antecedent. Some of the most common pronouns to remember are he, she, it, they, and this.

Choosing a pronoun is like choosing which type of bread to use for your sandwich. Will it be white bread (he), whole-wheat bread (she), rye (it), sourdough (they), or pita bread (this)? Though there are many types of bread out there—white, whole wheat, rye, baguettes, naan—at the end of the day, it’s all still bread, and we can call it such. The same goes for pronouns, which we use in the place of nouns.

Further, there is a proper type of bread for every sandwich. You can’t just use banana bread to make a pulled-pork sandwich! In the same way, you can’t use he to describe the Queen of England. (Well, you could, but you’d be wrong, and I don’t think Her Majesty would appreciate it.)

Adverbs (The Type of Meat)

An adverb is a part of speech that describes how someone or something performs an action. It is different from an adjective, which describes someone or something. Adverbs give more information about how an action is carried out.

For example, you can put meat in your sandwich (as you should). But what kind of meat? Will it be honey ham, prosciutto, or bologna? Choosing the type of meat greatly influences how the sandwich will taste. It’s the same with adverbs! “She ate the sandwich vigorously” is a different flavor of sentence than “She ate the sandwich slowly.”

Adjectives (The Butter)

Adjectives are simply words used to describe or modify nouns (people, places, things) and pronouns (e.g., I, she, he, it, they, etc.) by depicting, quantifying, or identifying them. When a series of adjectives is used to describe one noun, the adjectives must follow a particular order (like in the case of ten lovable, small, young, pudgy, beige, fuzzy, French pet puppies I know).

Just as butter is closely related to bread, adjectives are closely related to nouns. And just as butter gives flavor to the bread, adjectives give flavor to nouns. (I was going to try to come up with a clever butter pun, but the margarine for error was too high. Ba dum tss!)

Conjunctions (The Cheese)

A conjunction is a part of speech that functions as a connector between two sentences, clauses, phrases, or words. In writing, conjunctions can be effectively used in lieu of starting a new sentence. The proper use of conjunctions allows for a more natural flow and rhythm in writing. Popular conjunctions include for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

Because conjunctions draw relationships between parts of the sentence, they’re kind of like cheese. Gooey, delicious, melting cheese. Mmmmm. . . Sorry, what was I talking about again? Oh, right! Cheese is like a conjunction because conjunctions connect the parts of a sentence.

Articles (The Mayo)

Articles help determine whether you are referring to something of a specific type (with definite articles) or something of a general type (with indefinite articles). There are only three articles (the, an, or a) in the English language, so they are very easy to find in a sentence once you know them!

Just like sandwiches are somewhat incomplete without mayo, sentences are incomplete without articles. Also, it’s pretty easy to tell when a sandwich doesn’t have mayo because it’ll be very, very dry. And nobody likes a dry sandwich! It’s just sad.

Prepositions (The Lettuce)

Prepositions link nouns, pronouns, and phrases to the other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that is introduced is called the object of the preposition. Simple prepositions include about, above, after, around, before, below, beneath, during, following, inside, into, near, onto, outside, over, through, to, toward, under, and upon. 

Let us consider how lettuce is like prepositions. Lettuce acts as a bridge between the bread and the meat. Plus, no sandwich is complete without that wonderful crunch. In the same way, prepositions are that missing link. They govern nouns (or pronouns) to express a relationship between nouns (or pronouns) and other words in a sentence.

Interjections (The Mustard)

An interjection is not necessarily grammatically connected to the sentence (e.g., “Hmmm . . . that’s right”), but it is designed to convey the emotion of the speaker or narrator. Interjections are often followed by an exclamation mark; for example, “yum!” and “wow!” are both interjections.

Like interjections, mustard can be surprising (oh!) in taste and smell, adding a little something extra to the sandwich. And like mustard, interjections change the flavor of the whole sentence. You’re done building your sandwich, so slap some mustard on it and tie a napkin around your neck.

Conclusion

I hope you’re ready to eat. We’ve been through the nine parts of speech and now have a magnificent English-language sandwich to consume. It might even bring a tear to your eye.

There’s nothing more satisfying than the first bite of a beautifully layered sandwich you’ve worked so hard to put together. So now that you’re finished, it’s time to enjoy.

I

The English Language Learner’s Guide to English Prepositions

Peter flew to the window. Then, he was at the window. Earlier in the night, he had flown by the window. He thought it was open, so he flew into the window. Wendy saw Peter from the window. Her breath left a mark on the window. Peter’s favorite part of the window was how it opened.

All I had to do in the above sentences was change the prepositions and alter the wording a bit, and bam! they were new sentences with completely new meanings. Still, the object of each of these sentences was the window. As you can see, prepositions are small but mighty parts of speech. To English language learners, these pesky little words can be very challenging to master.

It’s really no surprise that English prepositions are so difficult to learn. For one thing, English has an excessive number of these relational words—more, in fact, than any other language out there. On top of that, the rules for when to use each preposition can be quite arbitrary. Native English speakers know when to use each preposition only because they are so familiar with the common uses of these words, but not because there are technical, logical rules that dictate their usage.

So, you may be wondering, is it even possible for an English language learner to master prepositions? Well, that depends. Are you willing to do lots of reading, lots of writing, and lots of practicing? Then of course it’s possible! Anything is possible, after all. All it takes is faith and trust . . . and a little bit of pixie dust!

What is a preposition?

A preposition is a part of speech that indicates the temporal, spatial, or logical relationship between the object and the rest of the sentence. Common prepositions include to, of, for, by, from, about, and around. There are many others, including above, after, before, below, beneath, during, following, into, inside, near, onto, outside, through, toward, under, and upon.

Prepositions are very important to the meaning of many sentences. Just look at these sentences about Peter and the Lost Boys to see what I mean. The prepositions are in bold, and the objects are underlined.

Peter flew home to Neverland.

The Lost Boys had been waiting for Peter for hours.

Thankfully, none of the boys knew how to tell time.

Why are prepositions important?

Let’s look more carefully at each example. We can do this by removing the prepositions and seeing what effect that has on the sentence.

Peter flew home Neverland.

In the first example, to is needed to connect Neverland to the rest of the sentence. Without it, the sentence stops making sense after home.

The Lost Boys had been waiting Peter hours.

In the second sentence, there are two objects: Peter and hours. For establishes the role played by these objects. Without for, Peter actually becomes an adjective describing hours, which neither makes sense nor conveys the intended meaning.

Thankfully, none the boys knew how tell time.

In the final example, removing the prepositions means there is now no logical connection between none and the boys, nor is it clear how tell time fits into the rest of the sentence.

As you can see, prepositions are very important for creating meaning!

More examples

I know memorization isn’t the best way to learn, but when it comes to prepositions, it’s probably your best bet. Here’s a quick list of rules and examples of proper preposition usage to remember.

  • Peter can go home or be at home, but he has to go to his house or be at his house. He can’t go house or be at house.
  • Saying that Peter flew by Captain Hook’s ship is very similar to saying that he flew past the ship. However, saying that Peter lives by Captain Hook’s ship means he lives near the ship, not that he passes by the ship to get home.
  • Tinkerbell recovered from an injury, but she is done with pirates and she hopes for a peaceful future with Peter.
  • Peter can fly to Wendy’s window at night, noon, or midnight, but if he travels to the window at other times, he must go in the morning, afternoon, or evening.
  • Peter Pan was published in 1911, but it was published on a Friday.

Test your knowledge and learn more!

Practice makes perfect, and there’s no better way to practice than to take a quiz! If you’d like to learn more about when to use prepositions, you should take a break from Peter Pan and focus your attention instead on another magical topic: puppies! This fun quiz covers basic preposition usage with help from your favorite furry friends.

Terms
Privacy

test2