Just something to wonder about.
English adjectives order:
opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose, Noun.
We all know what sounds right when giving modifiers, but this is why!
I often find many adjectives which seem similar, and don't exactly follow these rules. For example, my minister said the other day, "We have a free independent liberal church."
So what exact meaning category do these words come in?
Free: maybe opinion?
independent: again, perhaps opinion?
liberal: maybe purpose?
I'm so grateful that I was born and learned English as a child, hearing my family speak it. I have tried learning a couple of other languages, and English still seems the hardest grammar, and spelling!
Today's quote:
Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
MELODY BEATTIE
...English is the only language that I know and its spelling is crazy!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is!
DeleteI have read other posts showing that we somehow intuitively know in what order to put words.
ReplyDeleteYes, intuition is important, indeed!
DeleteThere's an order to adjectives? How was I never taught that?
ReplyDeleteAs to your church being independent doesn't that mean unaffiliated with any denomination?
I had no idea that there was an order to adjectives. I only learned that they modify or describe nouns. Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteMe too, and certainly never thought as to what modifiers would go where!
DeleteI am struggling in my bilingual world and wonders will never cease. Many years ago, I had to learn the order of adjectives for an exam and for weeks I would utter "quantity, opinion, size, age, colour . . . " under my breath on my way to work, asking myself, why and who cares and so on.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to read you do!
Ha ha, that's so great that you worked to learn the order of adjectives. Now there are two of us at least.
DeleteI remember learning about english adjective order many years ago.
ReplyDeleteGood teachers you must have had!
DeleteI had never learned that but it does sound incorrect to put them in a different order--only to a native speaker though. English is extremely irregular and not very phonetic.
ReplyDeleteYou said it!
DeleteEnglish is my first language. My French is rough.
ReplyDeleteMy French and Spanish are purely ornamental...not conversational at all!
DeleteAs you say, I'm grateful not to have to learn English--and I so admire those who learn it as a second (or third or fourth) language.
ReplyDelete