English is not logical, it’s expressive. ~ In Limbo
Speakers fortunate enough to live in their native country are often unaware of the idiosyncrasies of their own language. Of course you use the rules correctly, because they are deeply ingrained by hearing English from birth. By the time you become rebellious, it doesn’t occur to you to flaunt these particular social conventions. This blog won’t cover even the tip of the linguistic iceberg, but I will address a few issues about adjectives. Nerdish topic? Perhaps. If you have a problem with that, you’ll need to move on to something less enlightening. Tiktok? Ok, I’ll stop. Let’s move on.
English Adjective Order
There’s a method to the madness in the way we speak. Well, there is when it comes to using descriptive words. The rules facilitate understanding and are much less likely to evolve than, for example, word meanings and bastardized spellings. The Royal Order of Adjectives goes like this, according to Grammarly and other sources:
- Determiners are actually articles or possessive pronouns, but technically they’re part of the order: the cat or our house.
- Quantity, and that term not only refers to numbers but to indefinite quantities such as few and some.
- Opinion is just that, subjective, but there’s more to it. General opinion is held by many and specific opinion is personal. General opinion comes first, as in time-consuming, unnecessary tasks and ubiquitous pesky squirrels
- Size. Whew. A tiny description.
- Age, an ancient topic of conversation.
- Shape is objective: round or hexagonal or whatever.
- Color is objective as long as you don’t have any color blindness: chartreuse or violet.
- Origin/Material refers to where it came from, whether that’s a state or type of tree. Oak bench or Tennessee whiskey.
- Qualifier is a type, as in a French bulldog or an extended-cab pickup.
Two more things about these adjectives. First, you will probably never use all the types in one sentence unless you’re James Michener or someone of his ilk. Second, you don’t always have to use commas between each one. You should use commas if you could put the word and in between the two adjectives, and also reverse the order without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Sampling of Other Languages - word order
This section is going to be heavily reliant on external resources, because I don’t know much about other languages. I have intermediate knowledge of Spanish and I am a beginner in American Sign Language (ASL). I’m including those languages simply to illustrate that there are rules that apply in a number of vernaculars. Guardrails aren’t unique to what some people (bless their hearts) think is the most difficult language to grasp.
American sign language
Spanish
- ASL is more similar to Spanish than English in some ways, with regard to the word order.
- Expecting connective words (articles) such as of, to, and from would be a mistake.
- Sentence structure follows this order: time, topic, comment. I’m moving to a big city next year would follow be signed as: Next year, city, big, then moving.
- Multiple descriptive words are not necessarily signed in a specific order, according to one interpreter’s experience.
- Some adjectives follow the noun:
- Descriptive – blue dress would be vestido azul.
- Relational – think category – soup spoon is cuchara sopera.*
- Some adjectives precede the noun:
- Adverbial – relating to time – future wife is futura esposa.
- Indefinite articles (some, none, each) and numbers. Five hours would be cinco horas. Some days would be algunas días.
- There are random exceptions. Sigh. A good day is un buen día.
* Some rules seem to be a bit more fluid than others. To illustrate, a kitchen table would translate to mesa de cocina. Cocina is normally a noun, thus the use of de. Also, adjectives and nouns generally should agree in gender and number. Green trees are arboles verdes, but a green tree is arbol verde. There is an EXCEPTION in some cases, such as two hours, which is dos horas. The adjective in this case is giving you the number, and there is no plural version, obviously.
Also, understand that ASL is, after all, American Sign Language, and that means that other countries have their own versions. Spanish is the same. There are nuances between Spain and Central America (and differences within that region) and that goes for South America, too.
The diversity makes sense, but it is also a complication that convinces me that all languages have some nuances that are difficult for non-native speakers to learn. Or am I just making an excuse for myself? Could go either way.
My thoughts are that sometimes when people from another country don’t construct their sentences using the Royal Order of Adjective or any other English standard, it would be wise to tamp down our respective judgment meters. There are up to 450 languages spoken in the U.S. according to Fluency CORP. That’s a lot of variety. Then there are dialects, possibly 30 of those in our country. If you don’t think that can create misunderstandings, you’ve never heard a New Yorker try to communicate with someone raised in my part of this country. And we both speak English. Allegedly.
Learning any other language is difficult. I admire people who are at least trying to use a vocabulary other than the one they began to learn before they could walk. When someone is struggling to communicate, it might be a good time to extend a bit of grace. Mini-rant over. Let’s wrap up.
If you’re still awake after this grammar dump, it might amuse you to know that some of us nerds take these rules seriously. Getting the words in order is right up there with correct spelling and punctuation that doesn’t torture the author’s intent. That brings to mind one of my favorite people who doesn’t give two figs about societal norms. However, if he ignores the Royal Order of Adjectives, people will think he’s lost the plot. I don’t believe that many intelligent, good-looking average-sized Southern men would want to be considered confused.
You?
The first time we went to Kenya, the missionaries told us that our TN accents/colloquial features were difficult for Kenyans to understand. I said “so I shouldn’t say I’m fixin’ to go over yonder”. Their answer was obvious. Billy told me after a day or so there that one of the men told him that he (Billy) spoke English well but he couldn’t understand him. 😊
Exactly. Perfect pronunciation probably helps but the word order has to be right, too – for the receiver. Either way, I’m sure Billy does a much better job of communicating with people outside the U.S. than I do. 😉
So if a Chinese person is given a bye for not getting the structure, it follows that a person from Texas should be given the same courtesy. Google “foolish inconsistencies are the hobgoblin of….”
In this particular case, you may be right.