Submitted by AbleReporter565 t3_10pkxtj in explainlikeimfive
foolishle t1_j6otspm wrote
Reply to comment by Dorocche in ELI5: Why does the order of adjectives matter? by AbleReporter565
I would read “The brown big brick wall” as being a wall made of big bricks that were brown.
I think what happens is that if the adjectives go out of order your brain re-parses the list and assumes that they’re out of order for a reason and that there’s some kind of nesting is going on. some things are modifying other adjectives (sometimes nouning them) rather than the base noun.
Like “the old big cat” makes me assume that we are assessing “big cats” and talking about the old one.
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