Hyphen and comma

Question

Hi, I need a bit of help. Shall the adjectives be hyphenated and is the comma between them correct?She sat in a near-empty, old-fashioned diner.Thanks very much in advance.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

The hyphens are right. The comma is up to you. Sometimes two adjectives like that have to have a comma: "the gentle, fragrant breeze". Other times, they cannot have a comma: "the gentle spring breeze". The first two are called coordinate adjectives, and the second two, cumulative adjectives. Very often, you can go either way with the same two adjectives.

Coordinate adjectives separately

Coordinate adjectives separately modify their noun and have a comma between them. You can reverse the order, or you can put an "and" in place of the comma. The breeze was both gentle and fragrant (a gentle, fragrant breeze or a gentle and fragrant breeze). It was both fragrant and gentle (a fragrant, gentle breeze or a fragrant and gentle breeze).

Cumulative adjectives do not take a comma. The order cannot be reversed, and you cannot use "and". The breeze was not both gentle and spring. It was not a spring, gentle breeze. It was a spring breeze that was gentle. The adjective nearest the noun makes a unit with the noun, and the adjective before that modifies that unit.

Your adjectives can go either way. Was it an old-fashioned diner that was nearly empty? ("She sat in a near-empty old-fashioned diner.") Or was it a diner that was both old-fashioned and nearly empty? ("She sat in a near-empty, old-fashioned diner.") The choice is yours.

Hyphen and comma

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