Question 1

Hello, everyone！
I have a question and I need someone to help me: When David and Paige talked about the 1.Consult DOSA-SCOMP;  2.Reverse the adjectives; 3.Add an 'and' for Coordinate Adjectives, 
( 1 ) . why and when should one do the 2nd step ? Why the adjectives should be reversed? Since sticky and mushy are both in the category or class of Opinion, why do you do that reverse? Since the 1st step is relatively a strict order, is that also make the 2nd step a necessary step to build a correct sentence?
(2) . In the 3rd step, when they were introducing the Coordinate Adjective concept, David changed the comma into an "and" in the video, but at 3:27 he said that we need to add a comma between Coordinate Adjectives. I am confused, could someone help me explain these two questions, please?

Thanks!

Accepted Answer

I'll try my best to answer both of these.

1) Let's say you have two adjectives, so you do the first step and consult DOSASCOMP. You think to yourself that the adjectives are in the same category, but you aren't positive. This is where you try reversing the adjectives. If you can reverse the order and it still makes sense, then it's in the same category. To further clarify, if they are in the same category, the order does *not* matter. If you are a native English speaker it should sound right or wrong to you.  
2) Let's say the reversal method still leaves you doubtful. When two adjectives are in the same category, you have to separate them with a comma. BUT! you can also use the word "and" as a sort of testing method. Think about how it would sound with "and" between them.

To conclude. if you're writing a paper and you want to use two adjectives in one of your sentences, you should go through the 3 steps in your head. First, consult DOSASCOMP. If you think they are in the same category of DOSASCOMP, try reversing the adjectives. If the adjectives sound right when said aloud in both orders, you can stop there, but if you still have doubt, you can move onto step 3! Finally, Step 3 is the last testing method. Try adding "and" between the two and see if that helps clarify. If you're still stuck, try looking up the definitions of the two adjectives and compare them to the DOSASCOMP chart.

Hope this helps, and sorry for the length.

Question 2

In the exercise, there was the sentence "I want a cute tiny sloth as a pet, but I don't think that's allowed," asking whether there should be a comma between "cute" and "tiny."  The answer was that there should be a comma in between them, but they don't seem to be coordinate adjectives. Wouldn't "cute" be opinion and "tiny" be size?

Accepted Answer

I know this comment was a long time ago, and I agree with you. cute should be an opinion and tiny should be in the size adjective category so there shouldn't be any comma.

Question 3

i feel like im on kindergarden 0-0

Accepted Answer

It is ok to relearn things you already know.

Question 4

What does each order (specifically) really mean, because the names are so broad:

Determiner-
Opinion-
Size-
Age-
Shape-
Color-
Origin-
Material-
Propose-

It would really help a lot, thanks.

Accepted Answer

A "determiner" limits it's object in some way, distinguishing it from all other things.
An "opinion" declares an observer's idea about the matter in question.
A "size"  indicates whether something is large, small, or to some degree in-between those poles.
"Age" gives a time frame for how long the thing has been extant.
"Shape" is a physical property of an object. 
"Color" will help a reader in determining how her eyes will perceive the thing.
"Origin" speaks to the provenance of the thing.
"Material" will tell us what something physically consists of.
"Purpose" leads us to understand it's function.

Question 5

Can you explain why little or huge, like what was in the exercises, are not in the size category?

Accepted Answer

Little and huge are subjective terms. Depending on context and the speaker's background, one person may consider something to be huge when someone else may think that something even bigger should be defined as huge instead. For example, if you see a  crocodile at the zoo, you might say it's huge, whereas the zookeeper might say it's medium-sized. Both are valid given that both people have a different understanding of what makes a crocodile huge.

Question 6

On this question below, why are "cute" and "tiny" supposed to be in the same category?
Doesn't the word "tiny" describe the size?

"I want a cute tiny sloth as a pet, but I don't think that's allowed."

Accepted Answer

I don't think the rule about commas and adjectives is about the categories into which they "fit", but more about having them in a series.  Look at it as if this  were a list of any sort. That might help.

Question 7

Would color and opinion be similar or the same in certain areas? Let's say me and a friend looked at a suit. I may say "That's a pretty blue suit" but my friend may say "No, the suit is clearly purple". In an instance such as this, would opinion and color be one in the same, or would they remain different?

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for reading.

Accepted Answer

As you suggest, color is somewhat subjective and opinion-based because it's so tied to how people perceive it. You could probably consider color as a subset of opinion, though, and put it in the order the video suggests.

Hope this helps!

Hope this helps!

Question 8

so in the practice of adjectives order there was a questions  that read:
 A (dark, scary) room. Or A (scary,dark) room. To me both of these can be opinions but in the practice it said that scary dark order was right. Why is that when both can be an opinion?

Accepted Answer

Ah, you caught our teacher implying a rule where there is only an opinion. You are sharp, Selene. 
What I've advised people to do with this "adjectives order" thing is to write a bunch of random adjectives, some in each of the "DOSA SCOMP" categories, onto little bits of paper and mix them up in a bowl. Then, without any reference to "DOSA SCOMP" to  draw out several and put them in an order that feels comfortable and contains no contradictions to describe, perhaps, a cat. If it feels comfortable and is not internally contradictory, it can instill a feel for language while being jolly good fun.

Question 9

Why should you put a comma between cute and tiny in this sentence from the practice?

"I want a cute tiny sloth as a pet, but I don't think that's allowed."

It seems to me that cute is an OPINION and tiny si in the SIZE CATEGORY.

Or are those words acting like OPINIONS in this particular case?

Accepted Answer

DOSASCOMP is a handy tool, and David Rheinstrom presents it well. My opinion is that one need not keep it in mind all the time, but merely internalize it by creating lists of adjectives and then putting them in front of nouns in random order, then sorting out the mess. Certain patterns will just "naturally" sound better, and most of those will generally conform to DOSASCOMP. The point for all of us is not to "learn some rule or formula", but to internalize 
some ways of operating linguistically which enhance comprehensibility. Here's an exercise to consider. Write 250 random adjectives on little pieces of paper (one adjective per piece of paper). Put these slips of paper in a hat. Create a phrase in which the adjectives will be used, but leave a blank space for them. For example, "The _, _, _, _, chair." Then draw four adjectives randomly from the hat and arrange them in a way that communicates pleasingly. Pay no attention to the Adjective order suggested in the lesson. Let what pleases you be your standard. Good enough. 
Remember, this is not a rule, but a convention. It may change in the next 100 years. You only bother to learn it so that your own use of language sounds more natural.
Focus on "communication" rather than on correctness".

Grammar

Course: Grammar > Unit 4

Commas and adjectives

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