Adjectives allow us to distinguish between general things by narrowing down our focus to one thing in particular. You can choose from different kinds of adjectives when you need to describe a noun.

1

Choose the correct noun. A noun is a person, place, thing or idea. The noun will help you find the right adjectives to use. For instance, if you're looking at dogs, you can indicate exactly which dog you mean.

2

Use an adjective that describes the noun and place the adjective before the noun. For example, "I want to buy a large dog. However, I like that noisy dog, too. However, my wife would rather buy the gray dog." The dog buyer has considered three different dogs: a large dog, a noisy dog and a gray dog.

3

Add more adjectives if necessary to single out the object. For example, "I'd rather buy the friendly, small, gray dog. I'm not interested in the rowdy, large, gray dog."

4

Place the adjectives in the right order. Don't write or say "I'd rather buy the gray small quiet dog." Set adjectives in the following order--opinion, size, shape or texture, age, color, origin, material, purpose.

So: "I'd rather buy the quiet (opinion), small (size), gray (color) dog.

5

Examine these descriptions to remember the types of adjectives and their order: the beautiful, large vase (opinion and size), a square, ancient vase (shape and age), a red Chinese vase (color and origin) and a ceramic flower vase (material and purpose).

Avoid using more than three adjectives together before a noun. If you need more than three adjectives, use a second sentence to continue describing the noun.