Describing People and Objects
Adjectives
Adjectives are placed directly before nouns to describe certain qualities.
A money market fund is a safe investment.
This is a lucrative money market.
Adjectives are also often used with the verb 'to be' to describe the character of people or things. In this case, place the adjective at the end of the sentence.
A 15% return on investment is extraordinary.
The verification turned out to be very taxing
Adjective Order
It is possible to use a string of adjectives to describe a person, place or thing. When using more than one adjective, use the following pattern to place the adjectives in order before the noun.
Opinion, dimension, age, shape, color, origin, material + noun
NOTE: Use no more than three adjectives to describe a noun.
1. Opinion
Example:
A trustworthy guardian must act on behalf of this minor.
The fixed loan payment and amortization can be found on this chart.
2. Dimension
Example:
The large tax base of the city made it's account desirable.
My personal property has a large value attached to it.
3. Age
Example:
It is a matured treasury bond.
In ancient times, before money, people had to barter if they wanted to trade goods.
4. Shape
Example:
He and the cosigner purchased the rectangular plot of land.
5. Color
Example:
The subsidiary is represented in this graph by the yellow lines.
The red column represents fixed costs.
6. Origin
Example:
His Swiss account allows him access to one voting share.
China's voting share is too high for this product.
7. Material
Example:
The expensive treasury bond was very valuable.
A treasury bond offers secure investment.
Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above.
The quick, easy, digital turnaround is only two days.
Don't expect a fast turnaround if you renovate a large, old brick building and try to sell it.
The fortunate 21 year old American payee didn't even have a cosigner.
The most interesting course assignment in accounting was to write a report on deferred revenue.