Grammar﹕Order of modifiers
【明報專訊】Pat and Bill are preparing a surprise birthday party for MoMo! They are undecided about which birthday cake to buy....
Pat: I read about the grand opening of this bakery on a famous social media website. My friend tried this (1) popular triangular black and white coconut pie. It is the best-selling product here.
Bill: It looks very trendy, but MoMo skipped the dessert with coconut milk in the Thai restaurant last week.
Pat: You're right... how about this (2) (square/strawberry/delicious/big/Japanese) cake?
Bill: It may be a bit too big for us, this (3) (chocolate/round/1-pound) chiffon seems more manageable for us.
Pat: That's true.... Ah! Look! I just found the perfect one for MoMo! Shall we get this (4) (mini/cute/matcha/rabbit-shaped) cheesecake?
Bill: Excellent! Let's get this one!
■English highway﹕
When we are using two or more modifiers (adjectives, quantifiers and qualifiers) before a noun, we do not put them in random order. Instead, we follow a certain order. The more integral the description is to the noun, the closer the word is placed to the noun.
1. quantity(amount/ number)
2. subjective opinion/quality
3. size
4. shape
5. colour
6. nationality/place of origin
7. material
NOUN
e.g. Three naughty small grey British kittens.
If we use more than one description in the same category, we connect them with "and"
e.g. popular black and white coconut pie
◆Now you try
Identify the different descriptions of examples (2) to (4) in the conversation and put them in the right order. You may refer to (1) as an example.
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
social media website (n phr) 社交網站
best-selling (adj) 最暢銷的
manageable (adj) 處理得到的
integral (adj) (對整體)不可缺少的
[Smarties' Power English 第193期]
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