Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: She found a broken wooden table in the room.
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question tests the learner understanding of the natural order of adjectives in English. When more than one adjective comes before a noun, native speakers usually follow an accepted sequence, and any break from this order sounds awkward. The original sentence is She found a wooden broken table in the room, which feels unnatural. To answer correctly, we need to choose the option that respects the usual adjective order and also sounds fluent to a native speaker.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
English follows a loose but widely recognised order of adjectives when more than one is used before a noun. The common sequence is: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose, then noun. However, participle adjectives like broken often describe condition or state and tend to come before material adjectives like wooden. Therefore, broken tends to appear closer to the noun table, while wooden, which refers to material, usually comes earlier in the sequence or immediately before the condition adjective, depending on nuance. In practice, broken wooden table is the natural phrase, because broken describes the state of the wooden table as a whole.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the adjectives and the noun: the adjectives are wooden and broken, and the noun is table.
Step 2: Recognise that wooden indicates the material from which the table is made, while broken describes the condition of the table.
Step 3: Recall that condition adjectives like broken normally appear closer to the noun than material adjectives.
Step 4: Rearrange the phrase so that broken comes directly before table and wooden comes before broken, forming broken wooden table.
Step 5: Compare with the options and see that She found a broken wooden table in the room matches this correct order.
Step 6: Conclude that option B is the best improvement.
Verification / Alternative check:
We can verify our reasoning by comparing with other common phrases. For instance, we say an old wooden chair, where old describes age and wooden describes material. When we add a condition adjective like broken, we tend to say a broken wooden chair, not a wooden broken chair. This pattern is consistent across many examples: a cracked glass window, a damaged metal door, a burnt wooden fence. The condition adjective, such as cracked or damaged, is usually placed nearest to the noun. The phrase broken wooden table sounds natural and matches the usual ordering conventions, which confirms the correctness of option B.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
She found a wooden and broken table in the room: The phrase wooden and broken is grammatically possible but sounds clumsy and conflicts with the smooth flow of condition plus material adjectives. It is also not the most natural sequence.
She found a broken and wooden table in the room: The use of and unnecessarily separates the adjectives and weakens the smooth descriptive phrase broken wooden table. This is not how native speakers usually describe such an object.
No improvement: The original phrase wooden broken table does not follow common adjective order and sounds unnatural, so it clearly requires improvement.
Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes believe that any order of adjectives is acceptable as long as meaning is clear, but in reality, certain orders sound unnatural. Another common mistake is to overuse the conjunction and between adjectives, which can make the sentence wordy and less fluent. Students may also ignore the subtle difference between condition adjectives and material adjectives. Remembering the broad pattern, especially that condition often comes closer to the noun than material, helps prevent such errors in exam situations.
Final Answer:
The correct and most natural improvement of the sentence is She found a broken wooden table in the room.
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