*) So little red wagon requires neither a hyphen nor a comma.Īlthough the weight given to the two adjectives, and the choice between comma and conjunction, is a question of emphasis (and therefore discretionary), the principle of equal weight makes it clear that the silver and blue are discrete entities, each describing the gown in its own way.Īs someone who has spent a lifetime looking at how sentences work, I think the rush to hyphenate every descriptive phrase that precedes a noun illustrates the absolutism that seems to plague the subject of usage. It comes under Noam Chomsky’s heading of “deep” grammar - something you just know because it’s your language. (This is a question that can’t really be answered by a rule from on high. The quick test for equal weight is to ask yourself: “Would I ever say the little and red wagon?” I think the great majority of native English speakers would say no. If the two adjectives had equal weight, long-standing convention would suggest a comma or conjunction. Red has been given greater weight than little by its proximity to the noun and the absence of a comma or conjunction. So they’re separate (but not equal) adjectives. When you write a phrase like little red wagon, you can be fairly certain that red can’t be described as little it’s the wagon that’s on the small side. So how do you know when two adjectives have equal weight? Before a noun, they should be separated either by a comma or a conjunction. It means the adjectives have equal weight, so the gown could be, say, blue with silver trim, not a distinct silver-blue shade. The conjunction in silver and blue is your tip-off. Eyes that were an eerie blue gain immediacy by calling them eerie-blue eyes.īut does that mean you should jump on every pair of adjectives following a noun and manacle them together in front of the noun? The compound modifier is handy because it can be a briefer, more direct way of describing something. Adjectives can also describe other adjectives, as in eerie-blue eyes, where the hyphen tells us the eyes were an eerie-blue shade. In the phrase small-jet engine, the hyphen tells us the engine isn’t small for a jet, but the jet itself is probably one of those bijou executive models. The object of the hyphen in the compound modifier should normally be clarification.Īdjectives in a compound modifier sometimes precede two nouns. Something to have in mind is that it does not sound natural using three or more adjectives in the same sentence and it is very rare to hear four adjectives together before a noun.Compound Modifiers: The Rush to Hyphenate By Catherine Osborn Noun: The person or thing that is being described Examples of the order of adjectives before a noun

If you look at the examples above, you can ask… what are the gloves used for? (gardening) What is the bag used for? (shopping)Īnd after these adjectives we have the noun.

sleeping (bag), gardening (gloves), shopping (bag), wedding (dress).

Purpose/Qualifier/Use: What is it for? These adjectives often end in –ing.

gold, wooden, silk, paper, synthetic, cotton, woollen.

Material: What is the thing made of or constructed of?

American, British, Italian, eastern, Australian, Chilean.

Origin: Tells us where something is from. Pattern: The pattern or design of something. broken, cold, hot, wet, hungry, rich, easy, difficult, dirtyĪge: Tells us how old someone or something is.Ĭolour: The colour or approximate colour of something.round, square, circular, skinny, fat, heavy, straight, long, short,Ĭondition: Tells us the general condition or state of something.It can also refer to the weight of someone or something. Shape / Weight / Length: Tells about the shape of something or how long or short it is. Size: Tells us how big or small something is. beautiful, boring, stupid, delicious, useful, lovely, comfortable.

These adjectives almost always come before all other adjectives. This is usually our opinion, attitude or observations. Opinion: Explains what we think about something.

a, an, the, my, your, four, those, some, etc.Īnd then we have the adjectives that refer to….

Before the adjectives you will normally have the Determiner.ĭeterminer: The determiner tells us if the noun is singular or plural, definite or indefinite

The royal order of adjectives chart