The shipping company advertised for … accountants

Analyze the question

This tests the order of adjectives (determiners, opinion/quality, and origin) before a noun. The noun here is "accountants."

Explain the concept

English adjectives follow a fixed order before a noun:

1. Determiner or number (a, the, two, three)
2. Opinion or quality (competent, beautiful)
3. Age or size (young, old, tall)
4. Origin or nationality (Nigerian, Ghanaian)
5. Noun

Numbers always come first, right after any article. Nationality sits closest to the noun.

Step-by-step solution

• Option A: "two young but highly competent Nigerian accountants" has the number first, then the adjectives (young, highly competent), then the nationality closest to the noun. This is acceptable and natural.
• Option B: "young but highly competent two Nigerian" puts the number "two" after the adjectives. This is wrong.
• Option C: "two Nigerian, young, but highly competent" puts the nationality before the other adjectives and uses awkward commas. This is wrong.
• Option D: "highly competent, but young, two Nigerian" again puts the number after the adjectives. This is wrong.

Strictly, a purist might prefer "two highly competent young Nigerian accountants" (quality before age). However, "young but highly competent" is a contrasted pair joined by "but," so the order is acceptable. Among the options, only A is correctly structured.

Answer: A

Tip: In adjective-order questions, always check the number first (it should come first) and the nationality last (just before the noun). That alone eliminates most wrong options quickly.