Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OPINION
COMMAS:
It does not matter which comes first: long or bushy. These are coordinate adjectives. Notice the comma between
the adjectives.
NOT Between Cumulative Adjectives
Cumulative adjectives build their meaning in one particular order. You can not switch them
around and still make sense.
EXAMPLE:
Willy wore his black basketball shoes.
Willy wore his basketball black shoes. (This sounds silly, doesn't it?)
The order of black and basketball does matter; black must appear first in the sentence. These are
cumulative adjectives: they build their meaning in one order only. Notice there is no comma
between them.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
a
a
a
bowl
bowl
bowl
bowl
3.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
a
a
a
4.
a.
b.
c.
d.
hat
hat
hat
hat
5.
a.
b.
c.
d.
6.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
a
a
a
7.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
a
a
a
8.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a
a
a
a
boat
boat
boat
boat
knife
knife
knife
knife
lady
lady
lady
lady
8 ___________________________________
.
___________________________________
.
___________________________________
.
arts nice teacher new our French
___________________________________
.
spoilt boy nasty a little
14
___________________________________
.
American gorgeous blond-haired a girl
EXERCISE 1
1. There Was a terrifying huge black dog
2. I gave her some beautiful white cotton handkerchiefs
3. There was a wonderful old Impressionist picture
4. Have you seen a pair of brown leather gloves
5. She was wearing a winter woollen sweater
6. There is a very old Gothic church
7. My mother bought several small blue plastic plates
8. The fifteen-year-old French girl
9. There were a lot of useless little china ornaments
10. Why dont you wear your thick fur coat
EXERCISE 2
1. d
2. a
3. b
4. d
5. c
6. a
7. b
8. c
EXERCISE 3
1. My horrible dirty old maths teacher
2. a small old black ebony box
3. a friendly short young man
4. our boring old headmaster
5. a long dark wooden table
6. a beautiful old Italian city
7. our nice new French arts teacher
8. a perfect new system
9. a fantastic 18th century Scottish castle
10. A horrible greedy businessman
11. a big old brown bear
12. a self-righteous middle-class citizen
13. a nasty spoilt little boy
14. a gorgeous blond-haired American girl