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Read this in a novel just now
"They added a large, purple and black sign"
I think the comma shouldn't be there, though I'm not sure of my argument. I guess I see "purple and black" as a single modifier; no comma needed with only two modifiers.
I think the key point here is whether the adjectives are of the same type or different types.
We could write ”they added a large heavy unbalanced oscillating purple and black sign” you could leave it comma-less as I have or write ”a large, heavy, unbalanced, oscillating, purple and black sign”.
If there are a bunch of colors you could have ”a large heavy unbalanced oscillating purple, red, green, and black sign” - meaning is totally clear; or ”a large, heavy, unbalanced, oscillating, purple red green and black sign” which is OK; or even ”a large, heavy, unbalanced, oscillating, purple, red, green, and black sign” which really gets into too many commas for my taste. I think that last would not explicitly violate any rules of usage, but it's really fugly. By the time you get to eight adjectives you'd do a whole lot better to break the thing up unless you specifically want to chain all that stuff together for effect.
I just finished another book, by a different author. They started out using a comma with just two adjectives. Then they doubled down and started using a comma between the two adjectives AND a comma between the last adjective and the noun.
For example:
It was a large, blue, bedspread.
Drove me nuts!
This is an author I usually enjoy reading. Maybe they've switched to AI proofing?
The order of adjectives also matters to native English speakers (A 'blue, large bedspread' doesn't sound right). I predict that getting garbled as well.
The order of adjectives also matters to native English speakers (A 'blue, large bedspread' doesn't sound right). I predict that getting garbled as well.
Yeah, I've come across instances of misordered adjectives, and they've always bugged me, but I didn't realize that there is an official order until I saw a YouTube about it a year ago.
I don't generally buy books from Amazon, but I've read complaints that there are a bunch of rip-off books there that are largely A.I. generated. Is there any possibility that this is the case with the book you are reading?
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