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I have to describe an object that is: a pair of

  • round/rounded earrings,
  • made of wood/wooden,
  • with bosses of brass/brass bossed?

How can I put it in a single statement?

I think that it could be right to say "round wooden earrings with bosses of brass" but I'm not sure, since I'm not a native speaker of English.

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2  
Related: Adjective order. – RegDwighт♦ Nov 22 '10 at 19:25
4  
If you use it, "brass bossed" should be hyphenated ("brass-bossed") because it functions as a single adjective. – Jon Purdy Nov 22 '10 at 20:21

1 Answer

up vote 8 down vote accepted

"round wooden earrings with brass bosses" is the most natural way of saying this to the English ear, although you could say "brass bossed round wooden earrings"

My personal thought is it's probably better to put whatever you consider to be the most important features first qualifying them after with the less important ones.

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"Round wooden earrings with brass bosses" seems just fine: thank you! – dag729 Nov 22 '10 at 21:55
To elaborate: usage of genitive of material ("bosses of brass") in English is overwhelmingly not used, though it is grammatical. Unless there are are definite stylistic reasons, the genitive is replaced with an ordinary adjective, "brass bosses", as the answers describe. – res Nov 22 '10 at 22:41
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I agree that "round wooden earrings with brass bosses" is the most natural. But for your other, I would write "brass-bossed round wooden earrings" instead. – Charles Mar 31 '11 at 14:10

protected by RegDwighт♦ Jul 19 '12 at 15:37

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