Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak...
by MeinBlutIstBlau on Thursday May 20, 2021 @02:12PM
(#27224890)
That word order this is not a hard and fast rule doesn't stick out at all if it's shifted.
Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak...
by PartiallyTyped on Thursday May 20, 2021 @02:28PM
(#27225136)
There are relationships that arise when you change the order, e.g. nylon blue sounds as if it's a shade of blue, but not a nylon that is some shade of blue.
However, I don't believe it is opague to a non-native speaker who has sufficient experience with the language.
Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak...
by thethought on Thursday May 20, 2021 @12:53PM
(#27223670)
Thank you for this. I did try a few combinations and it does sound funny in my head. Wondering how this ordering evolved for a non-native speaker like me. I did not hear or know about this rule.
Multiple adjectives always have to be in the order: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose.
You can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife, or a beautiful big new oval blue nylon sleeping bag. Those sound completely natural and intuitive, but any tweak to the order just sounds "wrong" to a native speaker. Try it!
If you have a "cardboard brown box", it sounds like the box is the color "cardboard-brown"! If you have an old little knife, it sounds like "little knife" is the kind of knife it is! Other tweaks change the implied meaning in a way that is completely opaque to a non-native speaker.
Why can't you have a "green rectangular French old silver little whittling lovely knife"?