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Hans51 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
A big old brown Chinese wooden chair
a big old brown Chinese wooden chair
In the noun phrase, can I say 'big' modifies 'chair' or 'old brown Chinese wooden chair'
a tall and handsome man
I know that 'tall' and 'handsome' respectively modifies 'man' as an equivalent modifier
but in 'a big old brown Chinese wooden chair', each adjective is not equivalent so I am confused.
What do you native English speakers think?
Thank you so much as usual.
In the noun phrase, can I say 'big' modifies 'chair' or 'old brown Chinese wooden chair'
a tall and handsome man
I know that 'tall' and 'handsome' respectively modifies 'man' as an equivalent modifier
but in 'a big old brown Chinese wooden chair', each adjective is not equivalent so I am confused.
What do you native English speakers think?
Thank you so much as usual.
Top answer
Hans51 In the noun phrase, can I say 'big' modifies 'chair' or 'old brown Chinese wooden chair' I don't see any hierarchy of adjectives here. It's a big chair, an old chair, a brown chair, a Chinese chair, and a wooden chair. Nothing else (old, brown, Chinese, wooden) is big.
- Hans51 In the noun phrase, can I say 'big' modifies 'chair' or 'old brown Chinese wooden chair' I don't see any hierarchy of adjectives here.
- It's a big chair, an old chair, a brown chair, a Chinese chair, and a wooden chair.
- Nothing else (old, brown, Chinese, wooden) is big.
- Nothing else (big, brown, Chinese, wooden) is old.
- And so on.
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6 Answers
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Hans51In the noun phrase, can I say 'big' modifies 'chair' or 'old brown Chinese wooden chair'I don't see any hierarchy of adjectives here.
It's a big chair, an old chair, a brown chair, a Chinese chair, and a wooden chair.
Nothing else (old, brown, Chinese, wooden) is big. Nothing else (big, brown, Chinese, wooden) is old. And so on.
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CalifJimNothing else (old, brown, Chinese, wooden) is big. Nothing else (big, brown, Chinese, wooden) is old. And so on.I am sorry about asking a lot but for some reason, I failed to understand why the explanation was put and how to understand it.
Could you elaborate on it, if you do not mind?
Maybe do you mean adjectives such as old, bro
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Hans51Maybe do you mean adjectives such as old, brown, etc are not related to the adjective big?Maybe do you mean adjectives such as big, brown, etc are not related to the adjective old?In the sentences, each adjective independently modifies only the noun 'chair'. Those particular adjectives do not lend themselves to modifying each other, but it is not impos
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Mister Micawberbut it is not impossible in another situation.Thank you so much and if you do not mind, could you give me any sentences when you can think of them?
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I've already thought, and it's not very likely, but I was thinking in terms of an 'old brown pigment'. Even that one is not very good.
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Mister Micawber'old brown pigment'Or possibly burnt sienna sketch, though I suppose sienna is a noun, not an adjective — though I can't say exactly what sienna is.
CJ
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