Describing People and Objects
Adjectives
Adjectives are placed directly before nouns to describe certain qualities.
A purposely bounced check raises a red flag about a customer to financial institutions.
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.
The verification process is very reliable.
Is the market research accurate and reliable?
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:
An expense receipt is an important record.
The finance department is announcing the deprecative terms of money in the company.
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:
This is our old preferred stock.
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 numbers indicate unpaid debts in his account history.
6. Origin
Example:
China's voting share is too high for this product.
The minimum payment on her German car is quite high.
7. Material
Example:
A treasury bond offers secure investment.
We decreased paper waste by switching to a bill on demand policy.
Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above.
The most interesting course assignment in accounting was to write a report on deferred revenue.
The fortunate 21 year old American payee didn't even have a cosigner.
Most people trust an official certified check.
Don't expect a fast turnaround if you renovate a large, old brick building and try to sell it.