If your mother tongue is English , you almost certainly follow this strange grammatical dominion , despite never being actively instruct it .

There ’s an unspoken ordering for adjectives in English : Opinion > Size > eld > physical body > Color > Origin > Material > aim > Noun .

Nothing is stopping you from ignoring this formula , but it will make your sentence sound a little bit gawky and unnatural . For non - aboriginal speakers , it can be astonishingly tricky to grasp . However , translate this can dramatically ameliorate your volubility and smell .

For example , a smooth sentence might say something like : " A beautiful ( opinion ) small ( size ) old ( age ) round ( shape ) lily-livered ( vividness ) Italian ( rootage ) leather ( textile ) handbag ( noun ) . " Although it describes the exact same thing , it feels left over to say : " A yellow sure-enough beautiful Italian leather round small handbag . "

This funny quirkiness of theEnglish languagewas pointed out in a social media post that went viral back in 2016 , cite a transition from the bookThe Elements of Eloquence : How to Turn the Perfect English Phraseby Mark Forsyth .

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from outside web site .

Otherlanguageshave exchangeable rule , but they ’re noticeably more compromising . In French , for instance , adjectives often pass after the noun , and the order is not set in stone . " A magnanimous red car " is " Une voiture rouge et grande " , which literally translates as “ a car red and big ” . However , some adjective ( like beau , high-flown , petit ) come before the noun in cook phrase , making it seem less rigid than English .

verity be secernate , it ’s not exonerated why adjective need to be in this order in English . As explain byGrammarly , one theory paint a picture that the close an adjective is to the noun , the more essential it is to the noun ’s identity . For instance , call something a “ brick house ” is more precise than shout it an “ old theater ” or a “ beautiful house . ” However , there are plenty of hole in this idea . Take , for good example , the idiomatic expression “ small cad ” and “ black dog . ” Is “ smuggled Canis familiaris ” really a more specific description than “ small wiener ” ?

Another standardized theory is that the monastic order incline to move from subjective ( notion ) to more fixed , descriptive qualities ( like textile or purpose ) . Once again , though , there are exception . For instance , if you ’re talking about a “ lovely previous ceramic mug ” , is " ceramic " ( fabric ) more objective than " old " ( age ) ? It ’s hard to say .

Just to make things even more puzzling , English has a bunch of other oral rules . One is known asablaut reiteration , which explain how similar groups of words are dictate based on their vowel . This quirky rule excuse why sure paired words always look in a specific order base on their vowel sound : I come before A , which come before O.

That ’s why we say ping pong ( not pong ping ) , check mark tock ( not tock ticking ) , and King Kong ( not Kong King ) . This formula typically overthrow the usual order of adjectives . That ’s why we say " the Big Bad Wolf " , not " the regretful Big Wolf , " which sounds completely off . Without ablaut reduplication , intimate phrases would sound funnily amiss .

So , if you ever pick up someone say that “ English is aneasy languageto learn , ” save a persuasion for the pitiful soul trying to compute out why Big Bad Wolf apparently sound fine , but Bad Big Wolf sounds like an alien trying to convert you it ’s human .