...long straight red...

Question

Please have a look at this if you use adjective commas:

They were long straight red pants.

I'm tempted to put a comma after "long" because "long" and "straight" are coordinate adjectives, but, at the same time, I don't want "straight" and "red," which are cumulative in a conventional order, to be scrunched up together in comparison (i.e., "long, straight red"), so is it okay to simply leave it as is? I'm pretty sure this is a stylistic matter more than anything.

Thanks.

Philip · Accepted Answer

...long, straight, red pants... is my stye.

Snarf · Answer

It used to be mine too, but I stopped using adjective commas between conventional orders, especially if cumulative rather than coordinate.

RandomGuy · Answer

This is kind of tricky. They were long, straight red pants is probably how I'd punctuate it. Another way to say it is They were long red straight-leg pants. I'd never use a comma there.

Philip · Answer

Aspara Gusstraight-leg pants

Good point!

Snarf · Answer

Aspara GusThis is kind of tricky. They were long, straight red pants is probably how I'd punctuate it. Another way to say it is They were long red straight-leg pants. I'd never use a comma there.

So would straight-leg pants become the noun phrase? And what if the context changed and was directed not at clothing but at, say, an animal's hair. For example:

The dog had long straight red hair.

Would you still put a comma between long and straight? Or, as another example, say for a person: She had long curly black hair. Would you put a comma between long and curly?

Thanks.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Personally, this is where I would use the hyphenation approach: A red-long-straight-leg pants

Clive · Answer

Don't say a . . . pants

Say
eg . . . pants
eg a pair of . . . pants.

Clive

RandomGuy · Answer

SnarfSo would straight-leg pants become the noun phrase?

The whole noun phrase is long red straight-leg pants. I don’t think that’s relevant, though.

SnarfThe dog had long straight red hair.
Would you still put a comma between long and straight?

This example looks no different to me, but the more I think about it, the more uncertain I am about that comma. Following the "cumulative vs. coordinate" system, I don’t think either straight or curly falls into the "length or shape" category.

Although the system is by no means fail-safe, it’s the best one that I’ve come across, and it usually gets the job done.

dimsumexpressA red-long-straight-leg pants

Snarf · Answer

Aspara GusThis example looks no different to me, but the more I think about it, the more uncertain I am about that comma. Following the "cumulative vs. coordinate" system, I don’t think either straight or curly falls into the "length or shape" category.Although the system is by no means fail-safe, it’s the best one that I’ve come across, and it usually gets the job done.

Sure, I mean there are examples where you can have a series of adjectives, none or few of which happen to fall into any of those categories. In those cases, I almost always put commas between them, since (at least in that given sequence, whatever it may be) they seem to exist beyond the rules and scope of that chart, except for maybe before the last adjective of the list where I don't put a comma if I feel it is part of the head noun.

...long straight red...

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