Question

Rick lived in a ______ _______ ________ ________ (three-storey/nice/big/detached) house. three-storey detached nice big detached nice big three-storey When more than one adjective comes before a noun, the adjectives are normally in a particular order. Adjectives which describe opinions or attitudes (e.g. lovely, amazing) usually come first, before more neutral, factual ones (e.g. red, green): A girl was wearing a lovely green dress. Not: … green lovely dress. It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives in front of a noun. But if it is so, the most usual sequence of adjectives is the following: 1. general opinion (good, bad, lovely, nice, etc.), 2. specific opinion ((a) food: tasty; delicious; (b) furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable; (c) people, animals: clever; friendly.), 3. size/length/height (big, tall), 4. physical quality (thin, untidy), 5.shape (round, square), 6. age (young, babyish), 7. colour (green, pastel), 8. origin (Dutch, northern), 9.material (metal, wood), 10. type (general-purpose, four-sided), 11. purpose (folding, work, racing).In the test variants we have two adjectives of the same characteristics – size/height: ‘big’ and ‘three-storey’. If two adjectives with similar meanings are used, the shorter one often comes first, e.g.: a soft comfortable pillow. In the test the adjective ‘big’ is the shorter one, thus, we place it before the adjective ‘three-storey’: ‘…big three-storey…’.Therefore, in this sentence we should choose ANSWER 3: a nice (1. general opinion) big (3. size) three-storey (3. height) detached (10. type) house.

Accepted Answer

big three-storey detached nice nice big three-storey detached c

Question	Rick lived in a ______ _______ ________ ________ (three-storey/nice/big/detached) house.
A	big three-storey detached nice
B	three-storey detached nice big
C	nice big three-storey detached
D	detached nice big three-storey
Answer	c
Remark	When more than one adjective comes before a noun, the adjectives are normally in a particular order. Adjectives which describe opinions or attitudes (e.g. lovely, amazing) usually come first, before more neutral, factual ones (e.g. red, green): A girl was wearing a lovely green dress. Not: … green lovely dress. It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives in front of a noun. But if it is so, the most usual sequence of adjectives is the following: 1. general opinion (good, bad, lovely, nice, etc.), 2. specific opinion ((a) food: tasty; delicious; (b) furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable; (c) people, animals: clever; friendly.), 3. size/length/height (big, tall), 4. physical quality (thin, untidy), 5.shape (round, square), 6. age (young, babyish), 7. colour (green, pastel), 8. origin (Dutch, northern), 9.material (metal, wood), 10. type (general-purpose, four-sided), 11. purpose (folding, work, racing).In the test variants we have two adjectives of the same characteristics – size/height: ‘big’ and ‘three-storey’. If two adjectives with similar meanings are used, the shorter one often comes first, e.g.: a soft comfortable pillow. In the test the adjective ‘big’ is the shorter one, thus, we place it before the adjective ‘three-storey’: ‘…big three-storey…’.Therefore, in this sentence we should choose ANSWER 3: a nice (1. general opinion) big (3. size) three-storey (3. height) detached (10. type) house.

Adjectives Big Three Storey Detached Nice House E.G Lovely