Coordinate attributive adjectives in a series are set off by commas

She wore a long, sheer, and glittering gown.

It was a difficult, long, and boring class.

Note: Commas are not required if the all the items in the series are joined by coordinating conjunctions.

I’d like to be considered good and honest and reasonably accurate. (Red Smith on sports writing)

The baby was tired and cranky and wet.

Writer’s Tips:

· Commas are used between coordinate adjectives but are not used between noncoordinate adjectives. In your own sentences with adjective series, you can apply two tests to determine whether the adjectives are coordinate: The adjectives are coordinate and should be separated by commas if you can reorder the adjectives without changing the meaning, or if the word AND can be inserted between the adjectives without changing the meaning.

I was a very shy, timid kid. (Red Smith)

The Committee room was almost empty except for a few elderly, small-faced ladies sitting in the rear. (Lillian Hellman)

The smithy stood under the spreading chestnut tree.

Ten red balloons fell from the ceiling.

In the phrase shy, timid kid, you can reorder the adjectives to timid, shy kid without changing the meaning; and you can also join them with and (shy and timid kid). Therefore, you would put a comma between the two adjectives.

A safe practice is to omit the comma with numerals and with the common adjectives of size and age:

The little old lady

A large red-haired girl

Four tiny black dogs

· Commas can be used to set off adjectives in special ways. Many contemporary writers use adjectives somewhat more freely than the examples shown indicate. They may let adjectives follow the nouns they modify, or they may separate them from the nouns (still within the same sentence). Or, they may place adjectives before the noun but set them off in some way. The result is a particularly modern rhythm. This rhythm is marked by commas.

It was a Texas barbecue, Houston-style. (Tom Wolfe)

The few girls who managed it were never quite the same again, a little more defiant, a little more impudent. (Kate Simon)

I remember the emeralds in shop window, lying casually in trays, all of them oddly pale at the center, somehow watered, cold at the very heart where one expects the fire. (Joan Didion)

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