Happy Funny Girl or Happy, Funny Girl?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• Which of the following is correct?

I was sad when I outgrew my old red sweater.

I was sad when I outgrew my old red sweater.

• Confusing, isn't it?
• Wouldn't it be great always to know when adjectives need a comma and when they don't?

You've learned that commas can separate nouns in a list.

For her birthday, Maddy received a new bike, a board game, a pretty outfit, and a few books.

Lists of adjectives are different, though. When a noun is modified by several adjectives, sometimes a comma is used and sometimes not.

Consider the following examples.

The hardworking, intelligent student stayed late at the library.

The sweet old lady asked if I would like some ice cream.

Both of these sentences are correct. Yet each has a list of adjectives; one requires a comma when the other does not.

• Why are hardworking and intelligent separated by a comma, but sweet and old are not?

Here's the secret.

In this sentence, hardworking and intelligent are called coordinate adjectives. Here, the word coordinate means similar or equal. So, in these cases, the adjectives are equal. Switching them around is one way you can tell they are equal.

The intelligent, hardworking student stayed late at the library.

That sounds okay.

Another way to distinguish coordinate adjectives is to put and between them and see if that sounds correct.

The intelligent and hardworking student stayed late at the library.

Yes, that sounds good, too.

Hardworking and intelligent passed both coordinate adjective tests, so putting a comma between them is correct!

Now, take a look at the second sentence.

The sweet old lady asked if I would like some ice cream.

Put the sweet old lady to the test.

1. Switch the words. The old sweet lady asked if I would like some ice cream. That doesn't sound right.

2. Put and between them. The sweet and old lady asked if I would like some ice cream. No, that doesn't work either!

So, you can conclude that sweet and old are not coordinate adjectives and do not need a comma between them.

• But what exactly are they?

These kinds of adjectives are called cumulative because they build on each other.

Think of the phrase six fluffy white kittens.

• It wouldn't sound right if we said white fluffy six kittens, would it?

That's because cumulative adjectives need to follow a certain order.

The following chart shows the proper order of adjectives.

The order of cumulative adjectives in English is as follows.

You don't need to memorize this chart. You have memorized it without knowing it! Anytime you write a sentence with adjectives, your knowledge of English puts them in the proper order.

• That's pretty amazing, isn't it?

Test your knowledge of coordinate and cumulative adjectives in the Got It? section now!