Multiple adjectives

Question

I understand that coordinate adjectives used in a sentence are separated by a comma. However, is a comma necessary in this sentence: "A lovely red dress"? I think "lovely" and "red" are coordinate adjectives, but it appears that the word "lovely," as an adjective of opinion, does not need a comma after it. Am I wrong?

Vsuresh · Accepted Answer

anonymousI think "lovely" and "red" are coordinate adjectives

I do not think so.

If two adjectives are coordinate adjectives they should equal significance.

Here, one is about its 'beauty'(lovely) and the other is a word denoting its colour(red).

BillJ · Answer

There are two possibilities:

[1] A lovely, red dress.

[2] A lovely red dress.

Punctuation in [1] distinguishes coordination from stacking [2].

In [1] "red" is modified by a coordination of adjectives giving the meaning "dress" that is both red and lovely.

By contrast, [2] has stacked modification, where there are two layers of modification: "dress" is modified by "red" to form the nominal "red dress", and this in turn is modified by "lovely", allowing a somewhat different interpretation -- "dress that is lovely by the standard generally of red dresses".

Either are possible, depending on the intended meaning.

Multiple adjectives

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