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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

order of adjectives

Dear teachers,

Which meaning do these sentences have, please?

1) A poor invalid’s diet =
a) ? A diet for a poor invalid;
AND / OR
b) ? A poor diet for an invalid.

2) The poor invalid’s diet = ? the diet of the poor invalid. (ONLY ?)

3) The invalid’s poor diet = ? the poor diet of the invalid. (ONLY ?)

Thank you for your help.
Hela
  

Top answer

In English, it is a rule to reckon a Saxon genitive as a kind of possessive determiner like "his". So your phrases should be "(a poor invalid)'s diet" and "(the poor invalid)'s diet" because you cannot say "a poor his diet" and "the poor his diet". paco

— Paco2004

  • In English, it is a rule to reckon a Saxon genitive as a kind of possessive determiner like "his".
  • So your phrases should be "(a poor invalid)'s diet" and "(the poor invalid)'s diet" because you cannot say "a poor his diet" and "the poor his diet".
  • paco
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4 Answers
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In English, it is a rule to reckon a Saxon genitive as a kind of possessive determiner like "his". So your phrases should be "(a poor invalid)'s diet" and "(the poor invalid)'s diet" because you cannot say "a poor his diet" and "the poor his diet".

paco
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1, a only. It is the invalid who is poor.

2 Yes, only. It is again the invalid who is poor. The diet belongs to him and is not described.

3 Yes, only. Now it is the diet that is being described. It is poor.
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In invalid's poor diet there is no doubt that poor qualifies diet.

In poor invalid's diet there is some ambiguity. It can either be [poor invalid's] diet ie the diet of a poor invalid; or poor [invalid's diet] ie as far as invalid's diets go this is a poor one.

You would be better saying either a poor diet for invalids or a diet
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Yes, I find both #1 and #2 potentially ambiguous (the articles are merely a matter of context).

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