Ever been confused about the order of adjectives? Don’t worry, it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The trick is the acronym OSASCOMP — just remember this, and you’ll know how to arrange your adjectives correctly.
Here’s what it stands for:
- Opinion (e.g., lovely, awful)
- Size (e.g., big, tiny)
- Age (e.g., young, old)
- Shape (e.g., round, square)
- Color (e.g., red, blue)
- Origin (e.g., French, Japanese)
- Material (e.g., wooden, plastic)
- Purpose (e.g., sleeping, running)
So, instead of saying “a red beautiful small round French wooden table,” you’d say “a beautiful small round red French wooden table.” Sounds way more natural, right?
Pro Tip: When you have multiple adjectives from the same group in a sentence, separate them with a comma. No comma is needed between adjectives from a different group. And remember, most of the time, you’ll only need 2 or 3 adjectives together, so don’t overthink it.