Adjectives & AdverbsCAdvanced

Adjective Order

Cumulative vs. Coordinate Adjectives

Cumulative adjectives follow the OSASCOMP order and do not need commas: "a beautiful Italian leather sofa". Coordinate adjectives are of equal importance (often both opinions or descriptions) and require commas or "and": "a hot, humid day" or "a hot and humid day". To test: if you can reverse the adjectives and the sentence still sounds natural, they are coordinate.

Cumulative vs. Coordinate Adjectives

Cumulative adjectives follow the OSASCOMP order and do not need commas: "a beautiful Italian leather sofa". Coordinate adjectives are of equal importance (often both opinions or descriptions) and require commas or "and": "a hot, humid day" or "a hot and humid day". To test: if you can reverse the adjectives and the sentence still sounds natural, they are coordinate.

Practice

Which sentence needs a comma between the adjectives?

It was a warmsummer evening.

Put the words in the correct order:

Click words from the bank to place them here

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The OSASCOMP Order