Hey, everyone, welcome to another English grammar lesson. Today we're going to be covering
commas with adjectives.
Okay, so, first of all, what even is an adjective? Well, adjectives
are words that describe nouns. An adjective might be something like “blue”: the “blue
bird,” or “small”: the “small house,” or “funny”: the “funny comedian,”
or “amazing”: the “amazing car.” Adjectives are used to describe nouns, which are people,
places, things, and ideas. So, sometimes, when we're describing something, we may actually
want to use multiple adjectives—multiple describing words—to really flesh out that
person, place, thing, or idea. So, let's take a look at a sentence with multiple adjectives
in a row: "He was a kind wise man." Now, you might be thinking “Isn't this just commas
in a list? Didn't we do this in another video?” And the answer is no. With a list, the thing
you're describing would usually be listed first. Like, "The man was kind and wise."
But in this type of sentence, the thing you're describing is always going to be listed after
the adjectives. “He was a kind wise man.” So, in this situation, the adjectives come
first, and the thing being described comes last. For example, if you were describing,
say, a boat, it would be the “something something boat.” If you were describing
a computer, it would be the “something something computer.” If you were describing a person,
it would be the “something something person.” Whatever you're describing will come after
the adjectives in these types of sentences. Okay, so how do commas work with all this,
though? Well, let's look at the sentence we just talked about: "He was a kind wise man."
Okay, so what's being described here? What noun are these adjectives describing? The
man, right? We're describing the man? So, what describing words—what adjectives—are
being used to describe the man here? “Kind” and “wise,” right? Okay, so here’s the
rule—pay attention. If we have multiple adjectives in a row, like we do here—we’ve
got two—we will put commas between any two adjectives that can be flipped around and
still make sense. So, the question is can “kind” and “wise” be flipped around?
Can I instead say that he was a wise kind man? Does that sound correct? And the answer
is yes, it does. So, all we need to do is a put a comma between those two adjectives
to show that they can be flipped around and still make sense. Let's try a couple practice
ones… "Mary is a clever talented girl." Okay, so, what word is being described here?
And I’ll give you a hint: It is not “Mary.” Remember what we said earlier: In these types
of sentences, the word being described always comes after the adjectives. After the adjectives.
So, technically, the word being described here is “girl.” And what words—what
adjectives—are being used to describe "girl"? “Clever” and “talented,” right? So,
the question is can we switch those words around and still have the sentence make sense?
Well, let's see what it sounds like: "Mary is a talented clever girl." Yeah, that sounds
fine actually. So, we put a comma in there to show that we can switch these two adjectives
around and the sentence still works fine. Next one: "They live on an old dirt road."
Okay, so, what word is being described here? Give yourself a point if you said “road.”
And what words—what adjectives—are describing the road? “Old” and “dirt,” right?
Now, can I flip them around? Does that still make sense? Does it make sense to say “They
live on a dirt old road"? Uh, not so much. So, if we can't flip the adjectives around,
we do not use a comma. Two more… "We saw a small blue bird." Okay, so the bird is the
thing being described here, and “small” and “blue” are the adjectives being used
to describe the bird. So, the question is can I flip them around? Well, if I do that,
here’s how the sentence would sound: "We saw a blue small bird." Hmm, no good. So,
again, because we cannot rearrange these adjectives, we do not need a comma. Last one, and let’s
beef it up a little bit here: "Mrs. Smith is a mean nasty rotten woman." Okay, so just
like the Mary one we did earlier, the word being described here is not the actual name.
The word being described here is “woman.” You’ve got to look at the end—after the
adjective. Speaking of which, I've got three adjectives this time—three describing words:
“mean,” “nasty,” and “rotten.” It doesn't matter, though; the rule stays
the same. We just have to try switching one pair at a time. So, let’s start here: Can
I flip “mean” and “nasty”? Can I say “Mrs. Smith is a nasty mean rotten woman”?
Yeah, so I throw a comma in there to show that those two can be rearranged. Now let's
look at the second pair. Can I flip these around? Can I say “Mrs. Smith is a mean
rotten nasty woman”? Sure can. So, comma there too. And if you want to check the last
combination, to see if you could say that Mrs. Smith is a “rotten nasty mean” woman,
you could do that too. And, again, the answer is yes. So, since I can put all three of these
adjectives in any order I want, and the sentence would still make sense, I put a comma between
every single one of them, showing that all three of them can be switched around. Cool!
Well, whether you came here for a refresher or are just now learning this stuff for the
first time, I hope this video helped. Be sure to check out the free practice down in the
description, and—uh—we’ll see you next time. Thanks.