Timeline for Adjective order: Why is "big" before "beautiful"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12, 2014 at 8:55 | vote | accept | Mari-Lou A | ||
| Jan 8, 2014 at 23:10 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Mari-Lou: My memory wasn't that good. I would have bet money the original reference was to "shiny red shoes", so that was the quoted string I gave Google for a site-specific search term. Fortunately, although it didn't find the quoted string, it did put your previous comment at the top of the "close matches" list. (Oh - and did I forget to mention that I have a fetish about shiny red shoes! :) | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 23:03 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | @FumbleFingers I do like your comment, and I think you have explained very well that the royal order of adjectives is but a useful guideline, and I agree when speaking we stress on the words which we consider are most relevant, or help clarify intention and meaning. And I congratulate you on your memory, I am most impressed! | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 22:50 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | ... Further suppose the milliner didn't even think about those shoes, so he brought out various "beautiful big hats" for you to consider, but none in the all-important red. You could just point out that you wanted a "beautiful big red hat", and let vocal stress carry the emphasis. But you might well also promote "red" to the front of the list. It wouldn't sound weird in such a context. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 22:49 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @Mari-Lou: Well, hopefully you realise that the "rule" is at best a "guide". If you check all permutations of beautiful big red in Google Books you'll see that the overwhelming majority are in that order, conforming to the general guidelines. But suppose you went in the hat shop (wearing those shiny red shoes which I know you have! :), and said "I'm looking for a beautiful big hat!" ... | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 22:28 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Likewise your saying the most important feature should come first, doesn't ring true for me. What if red was the most important characteristic? Women more than men, are usually more concerned with items or clothings which match in colour. Should I say: "I want a red, big beautiful hat"? I could if I really wanted to but that order sounds off. Perhaps if I said: "Above all, I want a red hat that matches my shoes, it must also be big and extremely beautiful." Then my priority would be crystal clear. Personally, I think Shoe's answer is the best so far. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 22:27 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | @FumbleFingers I appreciate that the "What is the rule for adjective order" apparently answers my question, but it doesn't. Believe me when I say, I looked at that question and the answers before asking mine. I'm usually careful not to repeat questions which have already been asked. In this specific case I am not asking for the rule, I am asking why "big" comes before beautiful, exciting, and expensive and why it is followed by a comma. If I were to follow the royal order than SpeedyGonzalez's answer would be the correct one and I would have upvoted his, but I didn't. Cont'd. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 15:41 | comment | added | Julia | I disagree with the idea that the most important quality comes first. Big used first sounds more like a generic "great", and therefore not really about size as much as it is about awesomeness, although it couldn't be about something small. When it's used next to the noun, it's more about the size. "Big beautiful hat" is different from "beautiful big hat"; the latter must be a big hat, whereas the former can big or medium, just not small. Likewise, "big expensive TV" is different from "expensive big TV"; the latter sounds to me like it would take up most of the wall. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 14:18 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Per the accepted (but not most-upvoted) answer to what I think is the "original" question for which this is a duplicate, an adjective which is evaluational normally comes first. By implication, if the most important characteristic you seek in your "red hat" is that it should be "big", that comes first. If you're more concerned that it should be "beautiful", you'd specify that word first. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 13:38 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jan 9, 2014 at 10:56 | |||||
| Jan 8, 2014 at 12:16 | history | edited | Mari-Lou A | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added exclamation marks to mimic the children story style.
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| Jan 8, 2014 at 11:25 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglish/status/420878880543891456 | ||
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:53 | comment | added | Blessed Geek | I want a big truck. I want a beautiful big truck. I want to grow huge broccoli. I want to grow beautiful huge broccoli. I want a gigantic wedding. I want beautiful gigantic wedding. | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:44 | comment | added | IQAndreas | And as for your second question: When should an adjective be followed by a comma? | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:37 | answer | added | anongoodnurse | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:35 | comment | added | IQAndreas | Possible duplicate: What is the rule for adjective order? | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:32 | answer | added | Brian Hooper | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:28 | answer | added | Shoe | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:08 | answer | added | speedyGonzales | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 8, 2014 at 9:02 | history | asked | Mari-Lou A | CC BY-SA 3.0 |