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Adjectives are those
words that are used to modify nouns and pronouns,
and sometimes we need more than one adjective to
modify a noun or pronoun (the cloudy, windy
day). In
order to determine if a comma is needed with
multiple adjectives, you need to be clear about how
they relate to each other as well as to the word
they are modifying.
Multiple adjectives are sometimes
used, not to describe the same noun or pronoun, but to build
one adjective on the other. When
adjectives work together like this, no comma is
needed. Let's consider an example:
Ex. – Rather than
a traditional gendered treatment of
prostitution, White’s work is a labor history
examining prostitution as wage labor within the
capitalist system
In the sentence above,
the word gendered is used as an adjective to
define the type of treatment that is being
referenced. The first adjective, traditional,
is used to clarify the type of gendered
treatment. The two adjectives work together,
but are not separate modifying ideas. In other
words the first adjective defines the whole phrase
gendered treatment.
When two or more
adjectives are used to modify the same noun
they are considered coordinate adjectives. In
this case, the adjectives work equally to modify the
noun or pronoun (both adjectives have equal weight).
In this case, a comma is required. Let's consider an
example:
Ex. –
The characters in One
Day, One Life struggled in a beautiful, unfamiliar
land, and that struggle changed their responses to the cultural
practices they had previously accepted as
traditional and harmonious.
There are a couple of
tricks to help you determine if the adjectives are
coordinate or not. The first is to switch their
order ("unfamiliar, beautiful land"); the second is to place the word and
between them ("beautiful and unfamiliar"). If
the meaning does not change when you do either of
these, the adjectives are coordinate, and a comma is
needed.
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The
Author
Amy Hatmaker
earned her BA at the University of Houston-Victoria and
is pursuing graduate studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi. She has worked as a writing tutor at the Academic
Center for two years.
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References
Hodges, J.C.,
Horner, W.B., Webb, S.S., & Miller, R.K. (1998) Harbrace
College Handbook. (13th Ed.) Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt
Brace College Publishers.
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