4 ms·

Oh, really? Let me introduce you to the "order of adjectives" rule: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/grammar-bizarre-weird-rule-adjective-order-matthew-anderso

Oh, really? Let me introduce you to the "order of adjectives" rule: https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/grammar-bizarre-weird-rule-adjective-order-matthew-anderson-mark-forsyth-cambridge-dictionary.html https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/grammar-bizarre-weird-rule-... Talk about bizarre! Every native speaker has this internalized, but they never teach it in school.

crazygringo 3y ago
Oh believe me, it's definitely taught in school -- it's a part of every standard ESL curriculum. Generally third or fourth year. (Although if you miss class that week you might never see it again.) It's a weird one, but also pretty easy to internalize just through experience. It's not like anybody's usually stringing together five adjectives in regular speech. If you just learn a single prototype phrase like "ugly little green wool sweater", that will probably get you 99% of what you need in daily usage.
- bumbledraven 3y ago
  I think GP means it doesn't come up in primary or secondary school grammar lessons for native English speakers.
nitwit005 3y ago
Every language has things like that where you'll sound odd if you don't phrase things a certain way. That's why at a certain point you just need to get experience using the language.
otteromkram 3y ago
Not so sure if this is ironclad. Like, if someone messes up the order of adjectives, a native/fluent English speaker would still understand what they're trying to say. The author also introduces Cambridge, Oxford, whatever, when the first ordering is pretty standard. For example, the common term for an tiny, aged woman in the US is, "little old lady." Size, then age, then the rest.
- Tagbert 3y ago
  if the adjectives are out of order, they will be understood but the speaker will seem a little odd and not native.
jmholla 3y ago
I don't think that's as ironclad as it says. For example, I wouldn't say a little new knife. I would say a new little knife. Edit: I see that even the article calls out that this rule is not ironclad.

crazygringo 3y ago

Oh believe me, it's definitely taught in school -- it's a part of every standard ESL curriculum. Generally third or fourth year. (Although if you miss class that week you might never see it again.) It's a weird one, but also pretty easy to internalize just through experience. It's not like anybody's usually stringing together five adjectives in regular speech. If you just learn a single prototype phrase like "ugly little green wool sweater", that will probably get you 99% of what you need in daily usage.

bumbledraven 3y ago
I think GP means it doesn't come up in primary or secondary school grammar lessons for native English speakers.

nitwit005 3y ago

Every language has things like that where you'll sound odd if you don't phrase things a certain way. That's why at a certain point you just need to get experience using the language.

otteromkram 3y ago

Not so sure if this is ironclad. Like, if someone messes up the order of adjectives, a native/fluent English speaker would still understand what they're trying to say. The author also introduces Cambridge, Oxford, whatever, when the first ordering is pretty standard. For example, the common term for an tiny, aged woman in the US is, "little old lady." Size, then age, then the rest.

Tagbert 3y ago
if the adjectives are out of order, they will be understood but the speaker will seem a little odd and not native.

jmholla 3y ago

I don't think that's as ironclad as it says. For example, I wouldn't say a little new knife. I would say a new little knife. Edit: I see that even the article calls out that this rule is not ironclad.