Adjective Ordering Worksheet
20 exam-style questions across three sections — fill-in-the-blank, error correction, and sentence transformation. Reveal each answer as you go, then download the full PDF for offline practice.
Prof. Amirul Khan — amirulkhan.in
Adjective Ordering Worksheet — 20 Exam-Style Questions
Section A — Fill in the Blank (10 Questions)
1.She wore a ___ (Italian, beautiful, small, old) scarf to the interview.
Answer: beautiful small old Italian
OSASCOMP order: Opinion → Size → Age → Origin.
2.Having finished the report, ___ (choose the logical subject): the manager / the deadline felt relieved.
Answer: the manager
The subject performing the action ('finished') must match the sentence's grammatical subject.
3.The committee approved ___ (only) two proposals out of twenty submitted.
Answer: only
'Only' must sit directly before 'two', the word it limits.
4.This laptop is ___ (better / more better) than the previous model.
Answer: better
Never combine the -er suffix with 'more' — that produces a double comparative.
5.The signature on the document was ___ (unique / most unique).
Answer: unique
'Unique' is an absolute adjective and cannot be graded with 'most'.
6.My ___ (elder / older) sister is ___ (elder / older) than everyone else in her office.
Answer: elder, older
'Elder' for family reference alone; 'older' when followed by 'than' in an age comparison.
7.After the surgery, the patient felt ___ (weakly / weak) but stable.
Answer: weak
After the linking verb 'felt', an adjective is required, not an adverb.
8.The film was so ___ (bored / boring) that the audience left ___ (bored / boring).
Answer: boring, bored
The film causes the feeling ('boring'); the audience experiences it ('bored').
9.They visited a ___ (five-year-old / five-years-old) monument famous for its ___ (well-known / well known) carvings.
Answer: five-year-old, well-known
Compound adjectives before a noun are hyphenated, and the unit word stays singular.
10.How ___ (much / many) sugar and how ___ (much / many) spoons do you need?
Answer: much, many
'Much' with the uncountable noun 'sugar'; 'many' with the countable noun 'spoons'.
Section B — Spot and Correct the Error (5 Questions)
11.Find and correct the error: 'She bought an old beautiful Chinese vase.'
Answer: She bought a beautiful old Chinese vase.
Opinion (beautiful) must precede Age (old) in the OSASCOMP sequence.
12.Find and correct the error: 'The technology is more superior than its rivals.'
Answer: The technology is superior to its rivals.
'Superior' already carries a comparative meaning and takes 'to', never 'more...than'.
13.Find and correct the error: 'There were fewer traffic on the highway today.'
Answer: There was less traffic on the highway today.
'Traffic' is uncountable, so it needs 'less' and a singular verb, not 'fewer'.
14.Find and correct the error: 'He gave a hard won, well thought out speech.'
Answer: He gave a hard-won, well-thought-out speech.
Compound adjectives formed from phrasal verbs must be hyphenated before the noun.
15.Find and correct the error: 'The poor is often ignored by policymakers.'
Answer: The poor are often ignored by policymakers.
'The + adjective' referring to a group of people is always plural and takes a plural verb.
Section C — Sentence Transformation (5 Questions)
16.Combine using 'that of': 'The population of India is larger than Japan.'
Answer: The population of India is larger than that of Japan.
'That of' isolates the compared quality (population) to avoid comparing a number with a country.
17.Reduce the relative clause: 'The man who was singing entertained the crowd who was watching.'
Answer: The singing man entertained the watching crowd.
A relative clause with a continuous verb can be reduced to a single -ing participial adjective.
18.Rewrite using 'so...that': 'The exam was extremely difficult; nobody finished on time.' (use 'so...that')
Answer: The exam was so difficult that nobody finished on time.
'So' is followed directly by the adjective, with the result introduced by 'that'.
19.Rewrite correctly: 'It was too cold for going outside.' (fix the too + gerund error)
Answer: It was too cold to go outside.
'Too + adjective' is completed with a 'to + verb' infinitive, not a gerund.
20.Rewrite to fix the coordinate adjective punctuation: 'It was a bright cheerful morning.'
Answer: It was a bright, cheerful morning.
Coordinate adjectives from the same category need a comma between them — test by inserting 'and'.