Editing Adjective (section)

==Order==
In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order. In general, the adjective order in English can be summarised as: opinion, size, age or shape, colour, origin, material, purpose.<ref name="BritishCouncilOrder">[https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/order-adjectives Order of adjectives], British Council.</ref><ref>R.M.W. Dixon, "Where Have all the Adjectives Gone?" ''[[Studies in Language]]'' 1, no. 1 (1977): 19–80.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/sentence-order-adjectives-rule-elements-of-eloquence-dictionary|title=Order force: the old grammar rule we all obey without realising|first=Tim|last=Dowling|date=13 September 2016|work=The Guardian}}</ref> Other language authorities, like the ''[[Cambridge Dictionary]]'', state that shape precedes rather than follows age.<ref name="BritishCouncilOrder"/><ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/about-adjectives-and-adverbs/adjectives-order Adjectives: order (from English Grammar Today)], in the ''[[Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary]]'' online</ref><ref>R. Declerck, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cV4dAQAAIAAJ A Comprehensive Descriptive Grammar of English]'' (1991), p. 350: "When there are several descriptive adjectives, they normally occur in the following order: characteristic – size – shape – age – colour – [...]"</ref>

Determiners and postdeterminers—articles, numerals, and other limiters (e.g. ''three'' blind mice)—come before attributive adjectives in English. Although [[English determiners#combinations of determiners|certain combinations of determiners]] can appear before a noun, they are far more circumscribed than adjectives in their use—typically, only a single determiner would appear before a noun or noun phrase (including any attributive adjectives).

# Opinion – limiter adjectives (e.g. a ''real'' hero, a ''perfect'' idiot) and adjectives of subjective measure (e.g. ''beautiful'', ''supportive'') or value (e.g. ''good'', ''bad'', ''costly'')
# Size – adjectives denoting physical size (e.g. ''tiny'', ''big'', ''extensive'')
# Age – adjectives denoting age (e.g. ''young'', ''old'', ''new'', ''ancient'', ''six-year-old'')
# Shape or physical quality – adjectives describing more detailed physical attributes than overall size (e.g. ''round'', ''sharp'', ''turgid'', ''thin'')
# Colour – adjectives denoting colour or pattern (e.g. ''white'', ''black'', ''pale'', ''splotchy'')
# Origin – denominal adjectives denoting source (e.g. ''Japanese'', ''volcanic'', ''extraterrestrial'')
# Material – denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., ''plastic'', ''metallic'', ''wooden'')
# Qualifier/purpose – final limiter, which sometimes forms part of the (compound) noun (e.g., ''high'' chair, ''northern'' cabin, ''passenger'' car, ''book'' cover)

This means that, in English, adjectives pertaining to size precede adjectives pertaining to age ("little old", not "old little"), which in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to colour ("old white", not "white old"). So, one would say "One (quantity) nice (opinion) little (size) old (age) round (shape) [''or'' round old] white (colour) brick (material) house." When several adjectives of the same type are used together, they are ordered from general to specific, like "lovely intelligent person" or "old medieval castle".<ref name="BritishCouncilOrder" />

This order may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, like Spanish, it may only be a default (''[[markedness|unmarked]]'') word order, with other orders being permissible. Other languages, such as [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], follow their adjectival orders [[Tagalog grammar#Sequence of modifiers in a noun phrase|as rigidly as]] English.

The normal adjectival order of English may be overridden in certain circumstances, especially when one adjective is being [[:wikt:front#English-move to sentence start|fronted]] or with [[ablaut reduplication]]. For example, the usual order of adjectives in English would result in the phrase "the bad big wolf" (opinion before size), but instead, the usual phrase is "the big bad wolf".

Owing partially to borrowings from French, English has some adjectives that follow the noun as [[postmodifier]]s, called [[postpositive adjective]]s, as in ''time immemorial'' and ''[[attorney general]]''. Adjectives may even change meaning depending on whether they precede or follow, as in ''proper'': "They live in a ''proper town''" (a real town, not a village) vs. "They live in the ''town proper'' (in the town itself, not in the suburbs). All adjectives can follow objects or subjects in elliptical constructions, such as "tell me ''something'' [that is] ''new''" or "We ate the ''pizza'' [that was] ''cold''."