Skip to content
Zorg Space Open the app

English grammar

Long noun phrases and the order inside them

B2 · Upper intermediate Nouns and describing Questions 10

The rule

English builds long noun phrases and the order inside them is fixed. Adjectives run opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose: a lovely large old round brown Italian leather writing desk. Nouns can modify nouns (a deposit protection scheme), and the LAST noun is the head — a scheme, not a deposit. After the head come the post-modifiers: a prepositional phrase, a relative clause, a participle clause, in that order. Reading a report is largely a matter of finding the head of each phrase.

Pattern

determiner + opinion + size + age + shape + colour + origin + material + purpose + HEAD NOUN + prepositional phrase + relative clause

Examples

  1. A small round wooden table stood in the corner.

  2. The deposit protection scheme the agency used has closed.

  3. A three-page letter from the council arrived on Tuesday.

  4. The only document not mentioned in the report is the survey.

Common mistakes

  • Wrong: a leather brown old lovely bag

    Right: a lovely old brown leather bag

    Opinion, then age, then colour, then material.

  • Wrong: a three-pages letter

    Right: a three-page letter

    A compound modifier before a noun stays singular.

  • Wrong: The scheme protection deposit has closed.

    Right: The deposit protection scheme has closed.

    The head noun comes last in a noun-noun string.

Practice questions

Try each one yourself first, then open “Show answer” for the solution and the reason.

  1. 1Choose the correct sentence.

    1. an Italian beautiful marble old floor
    2. a marble beautiful old Italian floor
    3. a beautiful old Italian marble floor
    4. an old beautiful Italian marble floor
    Show answer

    Answer: C a beautiful old Italian marble floor

    Opinion, age, origin, material.

  2. 2Choose the correct sentence.

    1. a walk of five-minute from the station
    2. a five-minute walk from the station
    3. a five-minutes walk from the station
    4. a five minute’s walk from the station
    Show answer

    Answer: B a five-minute walk from the station

    The compound modifier is singular and hyphenated.

  3. 3Choose the correct sentence.

    1. the service dispute deposit tenancy
    2. the deposit tenancy service dispute
    3. the tenancy deposit dispute service
    4. the dispute tenancy service deposit
    Show answer

    Answer: C the tenancy deposit dispute service

    The head noun is service and it comes last.

  4. 4Fill in the gap.

    She wore a _____ coat.

    1. woollen long black
    2. woollen black long
    3. long black woollen
    4. black long woollen
    Show answer

    Answer: C She wore a long black woollen coat.

    Size, colour, material.

  5. 5Fill in the gap.

    It is a _____ problem, not a technical one.

    1. structurally deep
    2. structural deeply
    3. deeply structural
    4. deep structurally
    Show answer

    Answer: C It is a deeply structural problem, not a technical one.

    An adverb modifies the adjective in front of it.

  6. 6Fill in the gap.

    They sent a _____ apology.

    1. two-lines
    2. two line’s
    3. two-line
    4. two lines
    Show answer

    Answer: C They sent a two-line apology.

    A hyphenated singular compound modifier.

  7. 7Fill in the gap.

    The letter _____ the survey has gone missing.

    1. attached to
    2. attaching to
    3. attach to
    4. that attached
    Show answer

    Answer: A The letter attached to the survey has gone missing.

    A reduced passive relative after the head.

  8. 8Fill in the gap.

    It is the _____ of the two options.

    1. most expensive
    2. more expensiver
    3. expensiver
    4. more expensive
    Show answer

    Answer: D It is the more expensive of the two options.

    With two, use the comparative.

  9. 9This sentence is wrong. Choose the fix.

    Which sentence is wrong?

    1. a big old red car
    2. an old red car
    3. a big red car
    4. a red big old car
    Show answer

    Answer: D a red big old car

    Size comes before age and colour.

  10. 10This sentence is wrong. Choose the fix.

    Which sentence is wrong?

    1. a four-bedroom house
    2. a four-bed house
    3. a house with four bedrooms
    4. a four-bedrooms house
    Show answer

    Answer: D a four-bedrooms house

    Compound modifiers do not take a plural.

Practise this lesson in Zorg Space

In the app every rule becomes interactive practice: instant correction, reviews at the moment you are about to forget, and progress you can see from level to level — free.

Start for free

More in «Nouns and describing»