Describing People and Objects
Adjectives
Adjectives are placed directly before nouns to describe certain qualities.
That is an effective adware program.
This is a useful peripheral.
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.
Antivirus software is helpful.
The alphanumeric storage system is small.
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:
The flat screen plug and play computing system is very popular.
The C-Realm is an excellent podcast.
2. Dimension
Example:
3. Age
Example:
He got in through the old back door deliberately left behind by Dr. Stephen Falken.
It is an outdated plug-in.
4. Shape
Example:
The oval header image for your blog is beautiful.
The square pop under ad was very irritating.
5. Color
Example:
The red port is for audio.
The red manual on your desk describes programming for backward compatibility while avoiding software bloat.
6. Origin
Example:
The European power supply unit runs on 220 volts.
The American hairdryer melted into a puddle of plastic due to the power surge.
7. Material
Example:
The silicon processor is turning to glass.
The plastic Kindle preferred by power users weighs about 12 ounces.
Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above.
The old square green RAM memory card still works perfectly.
The interesting round old beta tester went berserk.
The strange oval Italian motherboard had a fried BIOS chip.
That stupid young American beta tester is probably right.