Order of Adjectives

Chris:	Whenever I travel to Europe, I am reminded of the unique bond this beautiful, old continent has with the US.
Jessica:	What do you mean? How we helped to defeat the evil, German Nazis in the long and horrible World War II? Or that we aligned with Western Europe against the influence of the advancing, communist Soviet Union in the 20th century?
Chris:	Both, for sure. But I’m actually thinking about the Marshall Plan.
Jessica:	Yeah, that was something. There’s no telling how much longer it would have taken vulnerable, war-ravaged Europe to recover economically from WWII without the financial support of the US. The United States dished out over $13 billion in a 4-year period beginning in 1948.
Chris:	That’s over $140 billion dollars in today’s money. That is an incomprehensibly large amount to transfer away from the American population. Is it true that most of these funds went to the biggest countries in Europe?
Jessica:	Yes. It was thought at the time, that the bigger European countries, would, with the help of the Marshall Plan, then stimulate economic growth in the smaller European countries as well. The funds were distributed mostly on a per-capita basis. As you might expect, the allied European nations got a little more than the old axis countries.
Chris:	Obviously. It was generous that an old, formerly hostile country like Germany received anything at all considering that they were the cause of the whole horrible destruction of WWII.
Jessica:	Germany got about 11% of the funds. France collected 18%. The biggest winner was our oldest and longest ally in the world, the UK. Overall, 18 countries received funds.
Chris:	What really gets me is that Harry Truman, who was a Democrat, was able to pass this bill with bipartisan support from the Republican congress.
Jessica:	The Second World War had demonstrated without a doubt what happens when the United States leans towards isolationism, like it did in the 1930s. Truly bad things happen.
Chris:	Good point. I also think there was a powerful realization that a modern, prosperous Europe was not only good for Europe, it was good for the United States, too…
Jessica:	And for the entire western world!
Chris:	Yeah, that’s how economics works.
Jessica:	Exactly. But it worked politically as well. The Marshall Plan aid allowed impoverished Western European nations to relax austerity measures and rationing, reducing discontent and bringing political stability, which was vital. And it also bought the United States enormous political goodwill that has lasted to this day.
Chris:	So, after the Second World War, we had bipartisanship, global thinking, a belief in free trade and none of that “my country first” stuff.
Jessica:	It almost seems like a fairytale compared to these days.
Chris:	Let’s not forget the man for whom the plan was named. The Marshall Plan was named after the intelligent and respected George Marshall who was Truman’s Secretary of State. The idea was to modernize industry, to remove trade barriers and to rain a little bit on the parade of the Soviet Union by preventing the spread of communism.
Jessica:	The Soviet Union was offered to be a recipient of the Marshall Plan but, obviously, it was on its own, Stalinist war path and naturally blocked help for countries such as East Germany and Poland, as well.
Chris:	Thankfully, on this occasion, the United States was on the right side of history.

Order of Adjectives

When using two or more adjective before a noun, the adjectives must be placed in a certain order. The order depends on the function of the adjective. For instance, adjectives that describe size, such as large, are placed before color, such as red.

He drove a large, red truck. ✔ Correct He drove a red, large truck. ✘ Not correct

We can divide adjectives into the nine following categories:

Order	Relating to	Example
1	quantity	two, three, several, many
2	value or opinion	incredible, amazing
3	size	big, tiny, large, long
4	temperature	hot, cold
5	age	new, old, ten-year-old
6	shape	round, square, circular
7	color	red, tan, green
8	origin	American, Japanese, Victorian
9	material	silver, cloth, tile

I rented an amazing, new apartment downtown. ✔ Correct ‘Amazing’ is an adjective describing opinion (2). ‘New’ is an adjective describing age (5). I rented a new, amazing apartment downtown. ✘ Not correct ‘Amazing’ must precede ‘new’ because its order is higher. Our house has a large, rectangular backyard. ✔ Correct ‘Large’ is an adjective describing size (3). ‘Rectangular’ is an adjective describing shape (6). Our house has a rectangular, large backyard. ✘ Not correct ‘Large’ must precede ‘rectangular’ because its order is higher.

Order of Adjectives

Select the adjective in the list that should go first.

Order of Adjectives

Select ‘C’ if the order is correct and ‘I’ if it is incorrect.