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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
coordinate adjectives
Hi everyone,
I've been looking at sentences containing coordinate adjective and trying to work out if commas are necessary or not. I've come across this example:
"Allen owns several blue wool sweaters." where it's claimed that blue and wool are not coordinate adjectives and so do not need a comma separating them. The rule the website gives is that if you can't put an "and" between the adjectives, then they aren't coordinate. "Allen owns sever blue "and" wool sweaters" sounding weird.
BUT, to my ears at least, if we wrote the sentence as "Allen owns several blue, WOOLEN sweaters" the two adjective would be coordinate, as "Allen own several blue and woolen sweaters (or woolen, blue sweaters)" sounds fairly ok, if perhaps a trifle on the poorly written side.
Similarly, in this sentence: "He was a tall, friendly old man" would I be correct in my assumption that there should be no comma between "friendly" and "old," as the adjective "old" is in a way compound with the noun "man." - as is the adjective "Chinese" in "She was a tall, beautiful Chinese woman."
Some clarification on these points (although disparate and poorly expressed i apologize) would me hugely helpful!
Best
Simon
I've been looking at sentences containing coordinate adjective and trying to work out if commas are necessary or not. I've come across this example:
"Allen owns several blue wool sweaters." where it's claimed that blue and wool are not coordinate adjectives and so do not need a comma separating them. The rule the website gives is that if you can't put an "and" between the adjectives, then they aren't coordinate. "Allen owns sever blue "and" wool sweaters" sounding weird.
BUT, to my ears at least, if we wrote the sentence as "Allen owns several blue, WOOLEN sweaters" the two adjective would be coordinate, as "Allen own several blue and woolen sweaters (or woolen, blue sweaters)" sounds fairly ok, if perhaps a trifle on the poorly written side.
Similarly, in this sentence: "He was a tall, friendly old man" would I be correct in my assumption that there should be no comma between "friendly" and "old," as the adjective "old" is in a way compound with the noun "man." - as is the adjective "Chinese" in "She was a tall, beautiful Chinese woman."
Some clarification on these points (although disparate and poorly expressed i apologize) would me hugely helpful!
Best
Simon
Top answer
Anonymous f we wrote the sentence as "Allen owns several blue, WOOLEN sweaters" the two adjective would be coordinate, I don't see any difference between 'wool' and 'woolen'. " I see it the same way.
- Anonymous f we wrote the sentence as "Allen owns several blue, WOOLEN sweaters" the two adjective would be coordinate, I don't see any difference between 'wool' and 'woolen'.
- " I see it the same way.
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3 Answers
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Anonymousf we wrote the sentence as "Allen owns several blue, WOOLEN sweaters" the two adjective would be coordinate,I don't see any difference between 'wool' and 'woolen'.
Anonymouswould I be correct in my assumption that there should be no comma between "friendly" and "old," as the adjective "old" is in a way compound with the noun "
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Mister MicawberI don't see any difference between 'wool' and 'woolen'.But wouldn't you agree that it's possible to say "the sweater is blue and woolen", but not "the sweater is blue and wool."?
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They are equally odd statements; if anything, the 2nd is nearer normal.
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