Sections 5.91-3 of The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., (CMS) discuss a variety of adjectival predicaments. Writers might study these sections on their quest to figure out how to deal with multiple adjectives in succession. Coordinate adjectives require commas. Phrasal adjectives have their own rules. Complicating matters, these rules have exceptions. Situations can get tricky, so much so that for this article, I not only referred to CMS but also The Copyeditor’s Handbook (Fourth Edition). Read on to learn strategies for navigating what I call “the adjective rabbit hole.”
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives equally modify, and appear consecutively before, a noun. Separate these descriptions with commas. Do not place a comma between the noun being modified and the adjective immediately before that noun.
- Example: “Her long, silky, straight hair rippled in the wind.”
- Notice that no comma comes between straight and hair.
How do you know if multiple adjectives equally modify a noun?
Test them.
In The Copyeditor’s Handbook, 4th ed., Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz list “crude” tests (121) that help writers assess whether an adjective is coordinate or not. Below, I apply these tests to the example sentence, “Her long, silky, straight hair rippled in the wind.”
1.) Switch the order. If your phrase still reads sensibly, the adjectives are probably coordinate.
- “Her straight, long, silky hair rippled in the wind.”
- This makes sense, so it passes the test.
2.) Replace the comma[s] between the adjective[s] with and. Does the description still make sense and project what you want to relay to the reader?
- “Her straight and silky and long hair rippled in the wind.”
- I don’t like the way this description sounds, but it makes sense. I’ll give it a pass.
3.) Insert the adjectives, separated by and, into a relative clause after the noun.
- “The wind rippled her hair, which was straight and silky and long.”
- The relative clause, “which was straight and silky and long,“ makes sense. It passes the test.
Example with a twist:
“I did not enjoy that scary, depressing horror flick.”
- Switch the order–“I did not like that depressing, scary horror flick.” PASS
- Replace the comma[s] between the adjective[s] with and–“I did not like that depressing and scary horror flick.” PASS
- Insert the adjectives, separated by and, into a relative clause–“I did not like the horror flick, which was depressing and scary. PASS
Verdict: depressing and scary equally modify horror flick. (Therefore, they are coordinate adjectives.)
Discussion: Horror flick works as a unit. It is a compound noun–two nouns forming a noun phrase, or single idea. See section 5.24, “Nouns as subjects.” Nouns working as adjectives are called attributive nouns. They are usually in singular form. In horror flick, horror is an attributive noun. Sometimes, though not in this example’s case, they lead to ambiguous descriptions.
A different approach to testing the “example with a twist”: include horror.
Let’s slip horror into the tests, to confirm it isn’t functioning as a coordinate adjective in the sentence “I did not enjoy that scary, depressing horror flick.”
- Switch the order–“I did not enjoy the horror, depressing, scary flick . . .” FAIL
- Replace the comma[s] between the adjective[s] with and.–“I did not enjoy the horror and depressing, and scary flick” FAIL
- Insert the adjectives, separated by and, into a relative clause–“I did not enjoy the flick, which was horror and scary and depressing.” FAIL
Discussion: Clearly, horror is not a coordinate adjective. Therefore, no comma should precede it. However, replace horror (a noun) with horrifying, (an adjective), and the sentence yields another coordinating adjective: “I did not enjoy that horrifying, depressing, scary flick.”
noncoordinate adjectives
Noncoordinate adjectives do not modify a noun the same way as, or equally with, other adjectives modifying that noun. In the above “horror flick” example, horror doesn’t modify flick the same way scary and depressing do. That makes horror, in this particular case, a noncoordinate adjective.
What’s the difference between a noncoordinate adjective and an attributive noun?
I couldn’t find a direct answer to my question in CMS. In fact, the style guide doesn’t use the term “noncoordinate.” However, it does offer examples of adjectives that aren’t coordinate (same thing as noncoordinate). These examples include attributive nouns:
“lethargic soccer player” and “wrinkled canvas jacket” (5.91)
Soccer and canvas are attributive nouns, or nouns working as adjectives. They are part of the noun phrases soccer player and canvas jacket, which happen to be open compounds (just as horror flick).
If I were to perform coordinate-adjective tests on the above examples, I’d see that soccer is not coordinate with lethargic, and canvas is not coordinate with wrinkled. Therefore, no comma comes between the each adjective and attributive noun. At the same time, each attributive noun is not coordinate with the adjective preceding it.
Reminder: An open compound is a word made up of two or more other words. Open compounds work as a single unit and are separated by a space: life form, high school, social worker, rabbit hole.
Answer to my question:
So, how do I answer my own question, “What is the difference between a noncoordinate adjective and an attributive noun?“ Each term is defined differently; therefore, one doesn’t have to have anything to do with the other. However, my question arises from the two terms seeming so similar. Ultimately, they are different or the same depending on the situation. If the attributive noun is the only word modifying that noun, as in “I hate horror flicks,” then the topic of the noncoordinate adjective is irrelevant. (There are no other adjectives to compare “horror” to.)
Judging from CMS‘s examples of noncoordinate adjectives, “lethargic soccer player” and “wrinkled canvas jacket,” attributive adjectives are noncoordinate adjectives when they don’t modify the noun the same way preceding adjectives do. Keep in mind that compound nouns can be made up of more than two words. In such a compound, one noun can be modified by more than one attributive noun, hence more than one noncoordinate adjective. As well, a sequence of coordinating adjectives can precede one, or a group of, attributive nouns or noncoordinate adjectives.
Another example:
- “The white house has a black front door.”
- In general, front can be used as an adjective, verb, or noun. Here, it’s an adjective modifying the noun door. However…
- In the description black front door, black modifies the idea of front door, which works here as a single idea–it’s a noun phrase. After all, front doors are all sorts of colors.
- Still not sure? Test it.
I’m holding back from giving too many examples–doing so throws me down the proverbial rabbit hole. Just remember that context matters. The image I want to relay may be different from yours, even if we’re using the same adjectives. Hyphens and commas, or lack thereof, help us draw our own unique pictures.
Let’s get tricky.
White brick house or white-brick house?
Section 5.91 of CMS says the adjectives that modify house in “white brick house” are not coordinate–“they have no logical connection in sense” (255). Therefore, no comma sits between white and brick. Simple, right? Not quite. “White brick house” brings to mind several points:
- As CMS mentions, “a white house can be made of many materials” (255). However, is that the right argument? The lack of comma between white and brick house tells me that brick house is a noun phrase; brick, an attributive noun. White describes brick house. That’s why no comma sits between white and the noun phrase.
- The white brick house at the top of this page looks like a brick house that was painted white. It makes sense to describe it as a white brick house. However . . .
- White brick exists as a building material, as seen in the picture below. If a house were, indeed, made of white bricks, I could write “The white-brick house is huge.”
- Here, white-brick is a phrasal adjective, which you can read more about in the next section, “Phrasal Adjectives.”
- Consider this: “My uncle built a huge white-brick house.” No comma after huge tells me this word modifies white-brick house. The quoted statement could be part of a larger conversation about white-brick houses. Or, this particular house could sit in a neighborhood with several white-brick houses of various sizes. But where would you put a comma in the following sentence, if at all?
- “My uncle’s huge contemporary white-brick house stands out in the rustic neighborhood.”
- Huge and contemporary would pass the coordinate-adjective tests. But do we really need a comma between them in this case?
- The house is in a rustic neighborhood. A huge house might not stand out, but a contemporary white-brick house would certainly stand out. In my opinion, the description makes sense without any commas.
- White-brick, as I use it in this example, is a noncoordinate adjective, as are each of the other adjectives. Each modifies house in a different way.
“The image I want to relay may be different from yours, even if we’re using the same adjectives. Hyphens and commas, or lack thereof, help us draw our own unique pictures.”
Phrasal Adjectives (compound modifiers)
A phrase that works as a unit to modify a noun is called a phrasal adjective. What are the rules for such a description? Below, I summarize Chicago Manual of Style‘s guidelines.
1.) When placed before a noun, phrasal adjectives are usually hyphenated.
- Section 5.92 of CMS (17th ed.) uses a great example to point out the importance of this rule: “small animal hospital” is just that–an animal hospital that is small; “small-animal hospital” means a hospital for small animals (255).
2.) When placed after the noun, no hyphen is needed.
- Often, this is after a linking verb: That skater is well trained.
3.) If a compound noun (such as time clock) is part of a phrasal adjective, hyphenate the entire compound noun.
- “time-clock-punching workers”
TIP: Read up on compound nouns and hyphens. Sometimes they’re part of adjectival phrases that include numbers, which might be spelled out or written in digits. When reading CMS, often one entry leads to another. Either the section directs you to another, or it sparks another question you hadn’t thought of.
4.) More than one phrasal adjective can modify a noun, which ups the importance of hyphenation.
- Example: “twentieth-century nursing-home facility”
Let’s get trickier.
They were time-clock-punching, blue-collar workers. This makes sense if I want emphasize the type of worker the people were. If I switch the descriptions’ positions, the sentence still makes sense. However, the sentence doesn’t sound right if I put and between time-clock-punching and blue-collar. This description isn’t clear–it sounds like I’m talking about two different types of workers: “They were time-clock-punching and blue-collar workers.”
relative-clause test: “They were workers who were blue collar and time-clock punching.” This doesn’t sound so great. It’s also unclear–are we taking about two different groups of workers?
no comma: “They were time-clock-punching blue-collar workers.” Since not all blue-collar workers punch a clock, this sentence describes a specific group of blue-collar workers. This would make sense if it clearly reflected the subject of your work. If not, reword. For example, “They were blue-collar workers who punched a time clock.”
REMEMBER:
When punctuating phrasal adjectives, context matters. Coordinate-adjective tests help, but they aren’t an exact science. Make sure phrasal adjectives, the punctuation surrounding them, and the noun the adjectives modify clearly project the image you have in mind. What might work for one situation may not work for another, such as small animal hospital and small-animal hospital.
5.) Use a suspended hyphen when two phrasal adjectives end in a common element.
- Example: “Middle- and upper-level floors are being renovated.”
- Middle and upper modify level.
6.) Drop the plural when a phrasal adjective indicates amount or duration, unless the phrasal adjective is a fraction.
- Example (dropping plural): Instead of saying, “I work eight hours a day,” you can say, “I work eight-hour days.”
- Example (of fraction, keeping the plural): “The senate needs a two-thirds majority to remove a sitting president.”
Exceptions to the before-the-noun hyphenation rule:
1.) When the phrasal adjective is a proper noun, no hyphen is needed. In the following examples, I highlight proper nouns in boldface.
- “United States roads are maintained better than those in poor, undeveloped countries.”
- “Sticky Notes page-markers are pretty safe to stick on pages.
- “Sticky Notes” is a proper-noun adjective, as it’s a product brand.
- Note: “page-markers” functions as a compound noun in this sentence.
- “Proper-noun,” in “proper-noun adjective,” is a phrasal adjective that’s hyphenated because it comes before the noun it modifies, “adjective.”
- “Sticky Notes” is a proper-noun adjective, as it’s a product brand.
**My Sticky-Note Diary title doesn’t refer to the Sticky Notes brand specifically but rather any number of types of page-markers I’ve used over the years–many of which do, in fact, stick to the page. And a few of which are, actually, Sticky Notes. This is why I hyphenate “Sticky-Note”)**
FYI
attributive adjectives— adjectives that come before the noun they modify are called
predicate adjectives— adjectives that come after the noun they modify
2.) When an attributive adjective is a common open compound noun, leave out the hyphen. (See Section 7.84 in CMS.)
- social service office
- high school students
3.) If a phrasal adjective is lengthy and/or awkward to read, rephrase it. Remove confusing hyphenation. However . . .
Consider your audience.
- Awkward, lengthy phrasal adjectives can be humorous and acceptable in YA fiction.
- Example: “She has a case of the oh-no-I-forgot-to-do-my-homework blues again.”
- In a law-office document, restrain the awkward.
- Example of awkward: “Our client was slapped with assaulting-an-officer and drinking-and-driving charges.”
- Better: Local police charged our client with assaulting an officer and driving under the influence of alcohol.
- If you work in a law office, use the terms the lawyer directs you to use.
- Dictionaries with law terms exist, including one by Merriam-Webster.
- Example of awkward: “Our client was slapped with assaulting-an-officer and drinking-and-driving charges.”
4.) Don’t hyphenate a two-word phrasal adjective that begins with an adverb ending in –ly:
- Example: “The overly lengthy phrasal adjective was awkward, so the editor told the author to rewrite it.”
- *WARNING: Overly lengthy is redundant, a hazard of using –ly adverbs before an adjective. Edit for such style issues in your work.
Dear Sticky Note Diary, why would I need a dash between any adverb and an adjective?
An adverb modifies an adjective, verb, or another adverb. Therefore, if a writer uses an adverb in combination with an adjective to describe a noun phrase, a hyphen can add clarity. The hyphenated adverb-adjective combo better describes the noun it precedes. However, when an adverb ends in -ly in a two-word phrasal adjective, clarity is less of an issue. Consider the following:
- “The obviously old document needed preservation.” But . . . “The not-so-obviously old document needed preservation despite its well-kept appearance.”
- In the first statement, obviously modifies the adjective old. Readers can assume the book has physical qualities revealing its age.
- The well-trained athlete won the race.
- Had the hyphen not been between well and trained, readers might think the trained athlete was well and therefore won the race. Section 7.84 explains that readability must be taken into consideration when hyphenating. Well-trained athlete exemplifies that point.
- Notice that the adverb well is paired with the past participle of the verb train, similar to well-kept in the previous example.
- Section 5.90 explains that sometimes present participles (verbs ending in -ing) and past participles (verbs ending in -ed) are used as adjectives, such as in “a pruned tree,” “a bored student,” and “a mocking tone”–“She said it in a mocking tone.”
- Such an adjective may be modified with an -ly adverb–“The barely pruned tree needed a good clipping from a professional landscaper.”
- Section 5.90 explains that sometimes present participles (verbs ending in -ing) and past participles (verbs ending in -ed) are used as adjectives, such as in “a pruned tree,” “a bored student,” and “a mocking tone”–“She said it in a mocking tone.”
- Notice that the adverb well is paired with the past participle of the verb train, similar to well-kept in the previous example.
- Had the hyphen not been between well and trained, readers might think the trained athlete was well and therefore won the race. Section 7.84 explains that readability must be taken into consideration when hyphenating. Well-trained athlete exemplifies that point.
In Conclusion . . .
Diving into the topic of multiple adjectives is like falling into a “rabbit hole” of information. There’s more to the topic than you may think. Buy a style book that’s standard to your industry. Study the whys of adjective punctuation. Assess what you’ve written–make sure your descriptions express the ideas you have in mind. Only you know what that image in your head looks like.
Words are your paint brush. Descriptions are image-composing strokes. If multiple adjectives don’t express your ideas clearly, rephrase the sentence. Make it project exactly what you want your readers to see. Your masterpiece depends on your due diligence.