Here's an entertaining grammar exercise - Which of these is correct,

[Ocelot II]

and why?

11 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Old huge round Russian hideous orange agent
	1 (9%)
	Old round huge orange hideous Russian agent
	0 (0%)
	Orange Russian huge hideous round old agent
	0 (0%)
	Huge old hideous round Russian orange agent
	0 (0%)
	Hideous huge old round orange Russian agent
	8 (73%)
	Hideous old round huge orange Russian agent
	2 (18%)
	Round old hideous huge orange Russian agent
	0 (0%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[dgauss]

1. I guessed the fifth one down. I'm thinking the key is

the lack of commas, and then maybe... something to do with what counts as a modifier?

[Ocelot II]

5. The key is that there is a real rule in English about the order of adjectives.

We are never taught this rule but we know it anyhow. #5 is correct. The rule is that multiple adjectives are always in this order: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose. This rule is always followed, even in informal speech. We just don't know we're doing it. In the examples in this poll, we know that all but #5 sound "wrong" but we don't know why.

If you’re using more than one adjective before a noun, they are subject to a certain hierarchy. You know it’s proper to say “silly old fool” and wrong to say “old silly fool”, but you might never have thought about why – or if you did you probably imagined it was just some time-honoured convention you picked up by rote. But it isn’t. There’s a rule.

The rule is that multiple adjectives are always ranked accordingly: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. Unlike many laws of grammar or syntax, this one is virtually inviolable, even in informal speech. You simply can’t say My Greek Fat Big Wedding, or leather walking brown boots. And yet until last week, I had no idea such a rule existed.

In this case my ignorance does not constitute a professional emergency, since I doubt I’ve ever put adjectives in the wrong order. If you’re a native speaker, the hierarchy is ingrained in you. Only people trying to learn English actually need to know the rule.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/sentence-order-adjectives-rule-elements-of-eloquence-dictionary

[dgauss]

7. Interesting, I learned something new I never would have figured out on my own.

I think the commas are still important in the sense that if that ingrained rule isn't followed, commas would be necessary for the sentence to sound somewhat sensible.

[dweller]

2. I'm going

with the flow



✌🏻

[likesmountains 52]

3. Commas?

[Ocelot II]

6. See post #5.

[PJMcK]

4. Too complicated

Trump is a traitor.