Position of adjectives

Adjectives usually go before the nouns they modify.

• She is a nice girl. (Here the adjective nice modifies the noun girl and goes before it.)

• He is an intelligent boy.

• That was a clever idea.

When two or more adjectives come before a noun, they are usually separated by commas.

• A large, round table

• A short, fair, pretty girl

Note that we do not put a comma after the last adjective in the series.

When the last two are adjectives of color, they are usually separated by and.

• A black and white cow (NOT black white cow)

• Red and blue socks

When two or more adjectives come in the predicative position, we use and between the last two.

• It was hot and sultry.

• The boy was handsome, smart and polite.

• The clouds looked white and fluffy.

Sometimes we put an adjective after the noun for the sake of emphasis.

• There lived an old man strong and wicked. (More emphatic than ‘There lived a strong and wicked old man.’)

In phrases such as those given below, the adjective always comes after the noun.

• Time-immemorial
• Heir-apparent
• God Almighty
• President elect

In lines of poetry, too, the adjective is sometimes put after the noun.

• O men with sisters dear! (Instead of ‘O men with dear sisters’)