Most of the examples you gave I would write as they have been shown, purely by feel, but I disagree with a couple: Which brings me to the another point that I think follows from the first: most of the time (not all certainly!) rules are an attempt to explain what we do rather than a truly effective means of explaining why. Certainly there is a "core of agreement" regarding many areas of our language, but find writers seem to take special pleasure in "thumbing their noses" at rules, writing as they please and breaking many "rules". On the other hand, what is so horrible and also marvelous about English is the lack of any "final word" as to what is right and wrong. I don't know if such central bodies exist in other countries. "Duden" is the name that is always linked to such changes in Germany. The has been controversy over this, and I'm neutral about the changes (many seem good), but can you imagine anyone saying, "Okay, starting in the year - everyone is going to change the spelling of these words…"īecause that's exactly what happened. You are probably aware that since approximately 1991 a writing reform has taken place in Germany.
The history of grammarians and there books telling us how to use English is a fascinating study in itself. I'd like to make a point: English defies rules because we've never had any central body assigned given the authority to say what is right and what is wrong. I've heard this attributed to Winston Churchill, but he may have merely made an existing saying more famous. You may be familiar with a famous quotation, "“England & America are two countries divided by a common language". I actually prefer book-recordings to movies most of the time, so this also gives me a chance to "key in" on the pronunciation of words by readers from the US and the UK. I'm a "voracious" reader, and at the end of the day, when I'm too tired to read, I often listen to books. I read through what you posted, and naturally you can't post all the rules. The first three days (more common than "the three first days") First, next and last go before one, two, three Examples are lovely, definite, pure, absolute, extreme, perfect, wonderful, silly.Ĥ) Numbers usually go before adjectives. The round glass table (NOT the glass round table)Ī big, modern brick house (NOT a modern,big brick house)ģ) Adjectives which express judgements or attitudes usually come before all others. It is impossible to give exact rules, but adjectives of size, length and height often come first. Just to summarize them, I will give you the main points.ġ)Adjectives (or modifying nouns) of colour, origin, material and purpose usually go in that order.Ģ) Other adjectives usually go before words of colour, origin, material and purpose. In the book " Practical English Usage" by Michael Swan (Oxford,1995, OUP) on page 13, point 14 it is stated that there is an order for adjectives before nouns
I am not going to write them here because: 1) it's extremely long 2) the language used there is quite technical and I think it is not appropriate for this forum. If you have the possibility of reading this book, go to page 1337, point 17.113 and you will find the rules that are being discussed in this thread.
In the book " A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" by Quirk et al (Longman, 1999, Great Britain) you can find a vast explanation as regards relative sequence of premodifiers ( adjective order). This one places shape before age, and also adds " Condition" between shape and age. This one places age before shape, and also lists " Purpose" between the material and noun, for example "leather riding gloves" or "metal mixing bowl." I've done a little hunting, and here are a few online links to the rules of adjective placement. "Many beautiful old Roman Catholic brick buildings" In this order, you describe : Size, Shape, Age, then Color Words like lovely, loud, strange, sloppily, or famous. The second word is an evaluation or opinion. The first word in the list is called a determiner.Ī, an, the, any count word, his, hers, my.I'm probably missing a few. It's probably best to not use more than two or three adjectives between the determiner and the noun. Here are some rules for the order of adjectives.