English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
Adjectives in Succession
Two or more adjectives can occur successively in the English language. When this happens, here is the order of occurrence: QSSACN
Q- Quality (nice, brilliant, dull)
S- Size (tall, long, short)
S- Shape (robust, slim, circular)
A- Age ( old, new, modern, ancient)
C- Colour (white, black, light, fair)
N- Nationality ( Nigerian, British)
I saw the pretty, tall, slim, young, fair Indian lady.
The arbitrary arrangement of adjectives in a sentence will generate ungrammatical sentences.
Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
Academic Advisor, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan;
&
Doctoral Student of English, University of Ibadan.
