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Yogi2005 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Adjectives

0 Hello, 02br
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00Could you please explain to me the difference between the two? 02br
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001. a sick young boy 02br
002. a young sick boy 02br
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00thanks in advance 0-
  

Top answer

0 If there is more to the sentences, there may be a difference, but I believe either is okay as presented. - they mean the same with both describing boy. 0-

  • 0 If there is more to the sentences, there may be a difference, but I believe either is okay as presented.
  • - they mean the same with both describing boy.
  • 0-
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10 Answers
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0 If there is more to the sentences, there may be a difference, but I believe either is okay as presented. - they mean the same with both describing boy. 0-
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0 I may be imagining it, but I think I've seen #1 more often. 0-
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0 the phrases are taken for an exercise where I was suppose to the difference in meaning between the two phrases. 02br
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00So, I thought it should be , at least, a slight difference in meaning, maybe something different is stressed in each of the sentence. 0-
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0 They share the same meaning because you can interchange them and you can put "and" between the two adjectives and the concept remains. 02br
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00Where the adjective lies in relationship to the noun may give a different connotation or meaning to the adjective closest to the noun. Ex: #1 may refer to health. #2 may be constrewed as a moral weakness in regards to the meanin
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0 This page may relate: 02br
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05000 0250hrefhttp://cctc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm#order
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0 I parse the two phrases syntactically as follows: 02br
001. a (sick (young boy)) 02br
002. a (young (sick boy)) 02br
00#1 sounds like to tell that "a young boy" happens to be sick, and #2 that "a sick boy" happens to be young. 02br
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00By the way "a young boy" sounds a little odd to me, though I hear it quite often. 02br
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0 I agree that young boy sounds a bit odd, although I can think of contexts where it would sound ok. 02br
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00The word to indicate a lower age range child is 'little'. A 12 year old is still a boy, but would not appreciate being called a little boy. I'd use 'little' boy or girl up to around 5 or 6 years old. 0-
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0 Hello Nona 02br
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00So do you mean "a young boy" would refer to "a male child of an age more than 5 to 6"? 02br
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00paco 0-
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0 The more closely connected the adjective is to the essence of the noun, the closer to the noun it is usually placed. 02br
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00Therefore the first example makes the most sense. The "essence" of the boy is his youth, whereas his sickness is mere "accident" - temporary. 02br
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00In my opinion, then, the difference is that the first illustrates a natu
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0 thank you all for your comments. 02br
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00After reading you comments It seems to me that the exercise is a bit useless, as CJ said that the second phrase sounded unnatural. 02br
00Anyway , I think that the explanation given by paco might be the one that the author of the exercise thought of. 02br
00I really appreciate your help, thanks afain. 0-

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