bellaluna
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Apparently this was on the FP yesterday. SORRY! But I reverse image searched and tried searching imgur for "english", "native", "speaker", and "language" without any results before posting. I hope you enjoy it anyway.
SorryIamnotsorry
Is it green or silver?
daguq
Commas are important too, and quite a lot of us know how to use them when listing adjectives.
usernametakenisthestoryofmylife
What an intelligent compact timeless oblong beige imgurian virtual and helpful post. Thank you.
InternetLawyer
exception: Great green gobs of greasy, grimy, gopher guts
excentricat
Nope, because prepositional phrases. Great and green describe gobs in order. Greasy, grimy, and gopher describe guts in order.
InternetLawyer
I guess I would have considered gobs to be the shape
lambaroo
"that horrible old large pink woolen oval hall carpet" opinion-age-size-colour-material-shape-purpose-noun. there's your exception ;)
SonOfAVondruke
Do plurals fuck with this rule? Salty little bitches vs. a big salty bitch. Discuss.
TheBlueMuppet
I would argue "little bitches" to be the noun, in spite of the size word. Just because that's how we use it.
Haribobarlow
English is a beast to teach, we literally make up rules, then give those rules irregular rules!
Beaver4Life
Just like in any other natural language, the rules are not made up, they are inferred.
Haribobarlow
And so complicated :(
Beaver4Life
I dunno. English seems easy to learn, compared to say Uralic or Slavic languages. Besides, you're exposed to it everywhere (media etc.)
[deleted]
[deleted]
Haribobarlow
Straight forward - we are not even a phonetic language (Spanish is): read, read, lead, lead; try explaining the rule for that!!
WhyDontICare
High-way tolls weigh whey when whey comes their way
WhyDontICare
written down, it makes perfect sense
HamboneHFY
Source: "The Elements of Eloquence" by Mark Forsyth. By the same author: "They Etymologicon" and "The Horologicon." READ THEM.
lucadollar
Alright.
IcanttiemyshoesbutIcanfuckyourbitch
Dota dot dot
krjal
Mmm, words
lunelune
.
truthHurtsSometimes2200
Ah! So THIS is why I sometimes start obsessing about my comprehensive insults' phrasing. Not a native speaker, but I do that too.
trinxter
This is such an useless old little red wagon of a nebulous rule!
chimneyspooper
Big Black Cock.
Treblaine
Big old long black german steel sodomizing cock
krjal
Reinhardt?
Treblaine
"The rocket hammer... is my penis"
webimgur
Actually, this "rule" is hogwash. It is broken every day by writers who aim higher than 3rd grade comprehension.
BootyWrangler69
This is not true. You can switch the order of those words and it sounds fine
LetumComplexo
It's muscle memory. We were never taught it, but because that's the way we always hear it it sounds "right".
MorrolaneDrien
Tacit knowledge versus focal knowledge.
knlawren
XenomorphZZ
The mo' you wish you didn't.
ofcourseidoimaprincessandthisismytiara
I feel like it should be "kno" lol
DeadMeta
Da Mo' Y'all Know
fourthreeone
Da Mo Y'Alls No
KongManshow
DMO YA KNO
TimTamFlimFlam
Congrats on avoiding @RepostStatistics by screenshotting a twitter post of something that was here like 2 days ago
bellaluna
Congrats on not only missing the description of the post, but also the fact that RepostStatistics has come and gone.
TimTamFlimFlam
Well shit my b. I guess I usually skip descriptions because it's usually an unfunny "front page edit"
JerryWhinefeld
English is certainly a silly language; it can eventually be understood through thorough thought, though.
SmokieMcBongwater
I have always done this but don't recall ever being formally schooled regarding this.
Iammoney45
I was taught this in 7th/8th grade.
tetragrammatan
It's said that our knowledge and understanding of syntax is innate and "unlearned" and we pick up the vocabs during our lifetime.
domenick91
Never heard this in my life
DoNotKnowJack
If you are a native speaker, it doesn't "sound right" otherwise.
Improbabilitydrive42
I am taking a TESOL course and we just went over this. It is in depth grammar.
SomeAngelDude
a The Elder Scroll Online Link course? =p
JelloPutin
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Nowhere near as interesting.
Samuriesock
I learned it in Spanish class in high school
leodavinci1
Life-long english-only speaker and don't believe I was ever taught this.
ExileonDaytonStreet
Same. What is this devilry?
spudpicker
I'm a zany tall middle-aged roundish real-life dyed-in-the-wool English teacher, and I'm not sure people do this naturally. Wait . . . .
SamMcKenzie
I'm an argumentative, white, atheist student with a penchant for contradiction and I can't even
BlowOnItAndStickItIn
Don't lie. We all know you're a potato picker.
AwkwardBiblophile
You deserve many points good sir
MrFnortner
This is a 'rule' like 'gravity' is a law. Grammarians discovered this phenomenon, then proclaimed it a rule. No one made it up...it just is.
ANewBadlyDrawnReactionImageAsIMakeThem
Ive never followed this list in my life, this seems really weird to me.
saltysoftie
Never been taught this before either. Just realized that some adjectives should be before the other, and likewise with nouns.
3point141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105
It's just something you pick up with the language if you spend a lot of time around native speakers
iwould
I'd include it in the grammar rule "if it sounds bad it's probably wrong". Was taught this every year of high school an sir helped a lot.
doesanyoneevenreadthese
That's why they suggest reading your essay out loud before turning it in
aPokal
Something always to remember, languages aren't 100% logical. I call it rhythm and rhyme. Like the article in german aren't always set to a
aPokal
thing, that is genderless, to give it a gender. But how the sentence would flow spoken.
RoarImATinyDragon
"Languages aren't 100 % logical" tell me about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative
usernametakenisthestoryofmylife
Humongous LOL at SmokieMcBongwater's name.
GTimgur
Because formal schooling has nothing to do with learning language.
OhGodImHorribleAtNames
I was thinking the same thing about syllables. We don't really know a rule set for them, we just know where they end and begin ya know?
mysteryperson
I learned in school that it's when your mouth or tongue come together
JamesAlegria
Hmm
brmedic
This is not an absolute rule. Many things sound odd when following this rule. American English is fucked
IHateLamps
One eye one horned giant purple people eater
SeverusSnapeWasJustMisunderstood
I think "Lovely little old green French rectangular silver whittling knife" sounds better
TheBlueMuppet
It makes it sound like its French rectangular, rather than regular rectangular.
IncognitoCube
Frenchtangular
Ecgwearth
And the way in the post makes it sound like the silver, not the knife, is French. I'd put it "silver French whittling knife".
n0gal
I don't think there's any way to string seven adjectives and make them sound fluent.
Tkeleth
no way, this just needs to become an accepted practice. lol
Alwaysgottagiveyouup
I'm sorry, but Green Great Dragons are just creatures from a fantasy world; the younger version of Green Elder Dragons. Depends on the noun.
BigVeinyWenis
Great and Elder are nouns in the way you are using them. Great = good (adj.), but Great = distinguished (n.), for example.
BigVeinyWenis
And Elder = older (comparative adj.), but Elder = somebody who is old, usually with a leading position of a community (n.)
LesbianTrappedInManBody
Wow. That was fun.
Darrions
You know we're getting old when fun means grammar
BlueStringsAttached
ManTrappedInLesbianBody
crispyseaweed
BodyTrappedinLesbianMan
Sspencerr
Now this is an underrated comment!
everythingisalieexceptthestuffthatisnt
An entirely more enjoyable experience I'd assume
PlushtoysEveryWhere
As a kind hearted mid-size middle-age slightly round yellow skin Asian man. I don't know this is true. Please confirm.
captlush
You forgot your purpose. As an English speaker, this now makes no sense.
HalTheMisinterpretivePornStar
Why you not doctor yet?
PlushtoysEveryWhere
Is this better? A kind hearted mid-size middle-age slightly round yellow skin Asian flesh and blood curious doctor.
HalTheMisinterpretivePornStar
Good. You be doctor now.
imgursample
Maybe in England, them dudes think they invented language and are the only ones that speak good english right.
Tkeleth
goddammit this is beautiful
hrondleman
You could argue that this doesn't fit as skin (material) is before Asian (origin).
hrondleman
I'd say probably a little creepy to call yourself a "yellow asian skin man" though.
IncognitoCube
Honestly, this makes it sound like there should be a few commas thrown in there
ILoveSteam
Maybe because there are some adverbs mixed in.
Applefaces
That sounds awful and truncated though
NamesAreStupid
I don't think that word truncated means what you think it means.
Tkeleth
lol but imagine what the sentence sounds like if this one *IS* truncated!
Terminology
This was on the FP just yesterday. Several people pointed out it was bullshit, not unique to English and with exceptions.
sillylinguistics
What is FP?
krjal
Front Page. We're there now in fact :)
exitparadise
Don't get your hard devastating dark cold facts in the way of allowing English speakers to feel special.
browsib
Says the English speaker
applesforjuice
I feel special
NamesAreStupid
I am special.
halcat
Whaaaaaat? Exceptions to rules in English? Surely not!
CertifiedMemeGuru
Sauce?
Allrighty
The specific order is unique to English though, I'd guess.
geonerd
As someone pointed out last time, "Big Bad Wolf".
wason
What if "bad" is the purpose and not the opinion? Then again we could go on for days about what word means what.
snargfargle
I think that's more of a rethinking of bad. Perhaps bad is more a purpose than an opinion given the context in which it's used.
AchromaticSky
In that case, "bad" is its purpose (i.e. being an antagonist). "Bad big wolf" would be a wolf that tries to be big but is bad at it.
skipsh2
Unless there is a subtype of dragon which is a Great Dragon
ArsTorok
As a dragon. There is a Great Dragon Subtype, but they are mostly assholes.
ltnoodles
But then "Great" isn't its size, simply part of its name
TheVindowViper
Exactly
TheVindowViper
I was thinking exactly the same thing, but I wasn't going to say it. Going for the taxonomy angle it would be fine.
ICantThinkOfAU
But then a "Great Dragon" Would be a compound noun, not an adjective
janerowdy
Regardless, you'd still have a green great dragon
Treblaine
But is it a great "Great Dragon"?
thewhifflingtit
Thank you.
footfistartkickpunchsing
you green sly devil you
DonHalvorson
Did you just serve him using Nazi grammar?
LeDonoMkIV
Yup i was going to say that
ShentoSama
Shouldn't your sentence be "Yup i was going to say this"
MyRegularAcctIsntAnonymousEnough
adjective precedence is one of the weirder aspects of english,
z3lfmoord
What?
HerrBisch
No it isn't you brown weird big idiot.
TwiggFace
that hurt to read
Highlander8795
What an idiotically big weird brown thing to say.
Raltsun
Please stop this.
AstralMarmot
English can also verb a noun, which is extremely rare across languages. For an example, see "verb a noun".
MyRegularAcctIsntAnonymousEnough
i'll have to google that
PedanticAndIKnowIt
Your example made me smile, inside and out.
SonOfAVondruke
The ol' Joss Whedon maneuver.
NekoMiko06
We can also noun verbs, but I don't know how rare that is, linguistically.
z0de
I have a bit of a scare there is on ppp
LunaticMethod
I dunno, switching a couple of those words around doesn't sound too bad. Like green and rectangular.
Walatalalaw
I find it depends on what you're emphasizing. A green rectangular box isn't saying the same as a rectangular green box
jaiie
Good point.
thor3thousand
I think it sounds more natural when you do switch them around
snargfargle
Nuh
timelessclassical
I was thinking whats wrong with saying 'i have a purple rectangular box'
magicgotit
I agree, unless you actually use a specific age. Green 21yr old doesn't sound as good as 21yr old green.
stormtroopr1977
You maniac!
CrazyCatLad
As a creative writer, I'll do whatever the fuck I want thank you very much random imgur OP.
Tkeleth
Writing is beautiful. A skilled writer can tease and caress the English language, toy with it, until at last it erupts in some (1
Tkeleth
passionate, silky imagery. I, on the other hand, prefer to drag the English language into a dark alley and punch it in the fucking face (2
Tkeleth
until it does what I tell it to do. (3
CrazyCatLad
Fuck yeah! I am simultaneously editing my medieval apocalypse book/trilogy and writing a new medieval book unrelated to it. #wordsmithing
astraecat
You sounded like you were describing orgasm for quite a while there, but I feel like it was on purpose.
Verelse
Instead of mentioning color in the precedence list, he should have just referred to descriptive attributes exclusive of size.
shuttlecockinakumquat
Some of them are equals, like the PEMDAS system.
playstation360
BEDMAS
vjven
Thank you!
coolseb
Old and little too.
Harley101
For me it's one of those things where if you explain something out loud it's going to come out in the order you remember it.
ICantThinkOfAU
Could be one of those differences between British and American English? I'm Scottish and "Green rectangular" Sounds absolutely awful to me
FergalHB
"British English"
ICantThinkOfAU
"British English noun noun: British English English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere." Triggered, bruh?
SnepInTime
It depends on if you want to put the emphasis on one particular adjective. And you can have green great-dragons.
Wuesty93
The textbook is British by the "u" in "colour"
MalNebiros
I think it depends on the individual, I'm british and while it sounds slightly unusual it doesn't sound bad to me.
ImAkuTheShapeShiftingMasterofDarkness
That sounds bad but switch little and lovely and its alright
snargfargle
Yeah, ew, no. Please don't
Ashen44
Now that sounds absolutely dreadful to me
smoothoprater
To me too and I'm not even a native speaker :D
MusicFillsTheQuiet
Idealistic, young, white, North-Eastern American here to confirm. Swapping "Green" and "Rectangular" doesn't sound great to me, but it's OK.
IronRod
Yeah, it's a green rectangle not a rectangle green!
Kairi703
Yeah, since rectangle is a subject, as opposed to rectangular....
IronRod
I don't grammar very well.
FlashlhsalF
Neither do the people that upvoted you
grapesforducks
Now I've sat here thinking "green rectangular object... rectangular green object" to myself and they both sound acceptable/weird.
LazyTheAssCat
It's one of those "the more you say it" things. I.e. Cabildo , a town hall. Something we picked up from Spanish. Cabildo cabildo cabildo.
PyrosHaveMoreFun
I'm American and that sounds wrong to me too.
kevinallover
Let's dig deeper – many American dialects are closer to british than American vernacular english. So, where you from?
chettlar
Kansas
Thisbefluff
South Carolina
GlowGreen
New York - sounds horrible to me. Then again, I feel like my speech patterns are different than those of my peers.
kevinallover
Like, New York New York, or upstate? Because I'm from NY and it sounds fine.
norseteq
Also from New York and both sound fine
PyrosHaveMoreFun
Minnesota
SpellboundFish
Although if you were distinguishing between a green rectangular box and a purple rectangular box, it makes sense.
KeeleonOhms
It's like nesting parenthesis in math. If you're distinguishing between "rectangular objects", that whole phrase is the subject.
smoothoprater
Wow you did find an exception that makes complete sense. I request more upvotes for this comment! MOAR
KeeleonOhms
It's all about where you need the emphasis.
Snarknado4
Everything sounds awful in Scotland.
Snarkoleptic
Even if you're just visiting?
Snarknado4
why hello there, snarkmate
DickDastardly404
You can switch almost all of them around, the problem is the seven adjectives. OFC it sounds clunky, it's horrible writing.
whosaidjehovah
Right, you wouldn't normally use more than 3 adjectives. But I don't think you can switch them: I met a Spanish old friendly man. Sounds off
DickDastardly404
In some cases it sounds off, in others it does not. For it to be a "rule" it must be true in the vast majority of cases.
timelessclassical
Metal purple rectangular old box. Ha
playstation360
Sounds fine
zindarato
I think that sounds terrible. Sounds better as old rectangular purple metal box