Look! A Punctuation-Related Poll!

[gnomi]

[Poll #1221655]

Comments

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

but I answer that way after having been *brainwashed* by proof readers - I think it looks better without, myself.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

I think it's generally ok to leave out the comma if there's only two adjectives that are significantly different from each other and there's no possible other interpretation. such as:

She wore a light green skirt.
She wore a light, green skirt.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

Hooray for word order!

Oddly, I'd place the comma into "green, light skirt" for some reason. Maybe I don't want to give the impression that the skirt incorporates traffic signals.

Besides, I don't know what a "tight green" might be anyway.

[devoken.livejournal.com]

In principle I agree, however in this particular instance I would insist on commas, because "light green" is a color, and so there is room for misinterpretation.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Er. That was what I was trying to demonstrate, in my unbearably clumsy way. :)

[eafm.livejournal.com]

If I'm describing an isolated woman on an isolated day, I'd use the comma. But if we're talking about black-skirted women in general, or if the woman I'm describing owns many black skirts, I don't think I'd use the comma. She's wearing a short black skirt -- suggesting that on another day she was wearing a different black skirt, or that a different woman in the group is wearing a different type of black skirt -- comma if both short and black refer to skirt, but no comma if short refers to the black skirt.

[anahcrow.livejournal.com]

How do you do it when you get more adjectives in there?

"tight, green silk skirt"
"tight, green, silk skirt"
"tight green silk skirt"

Interestingly when it's not colour or material, I'm more likely to put in commas.

"strong, rough hands"
"big, hard fist"
"big black fist"
"tall iron tower"
"tall, listing tower"

Evidently, I am made of random. But that's in my own writing. What I'd pick out in proofing is not always the same.

[madfilkentist]

The rule I learned is that you separate adjectives with a comma if their order is interchangeable. English tends to bind color adjectives tightly to nouns, so "a black short skirt" or "a green tight shirt" looks a little funny, even if it isn't strictly wrong. Hence, I wouldn't use a comma.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Oh interesting, binding color to nouns. Thanks.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

Separate elements definitely need commas.

[bear-left.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I've ever studied the rules here precisely, but my take is that we're talking about modifying a black skirt, a green shirt, rather than just a skirt or a shirt.

Hence the difference between "she is wearing a short black skirt" and, for example, "her skirt is short, black, and pleated."

But I'm open to hearing other explanations.

[glishara.livejournal.com]

That is exactly what I was thinking. When I think about it hard I say, "Yes, there should probably be a comma." But I resist it, because I feel like "black skirt" or "green shirt" is practically a compound noun, not so much adjective + noun.

[dpolicar]

I am, apparently, cos.

So, I have a vague feeling that the commaful version is more correct, but I'm more likely to use the commaless version, in the first case. In the second case I have a stronger feeling that the commaful version is correct, I sorta want "tight green" to be a color otherwise, which is probably because it sounds like "light green" or "bright green" or something.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

What's been said.

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

I know that grammar should not be done by gut instinct, but I'm afraid that's the way I do it. If pressed I could probably explain it.

[ckd]

That was pretty much my reaction, too. I think madfilkentist's explanation ("tight binding") is what I was doing, just without consciously thinking about it.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

One of my problems is that I was inculcated by an early English teacher with love of punctuation. A sentence just doesn't look dressed without a comma in it *somewhere*.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

My explanation without reading others' comments:
I use the first form, without the comma, when I'm writing an email or other informal note, and the second form, with the comma, if I'm writing for some kind of publication (LJ counts).

[moonpuppy61.livejournal.com]

My grammar is so shaky it is whimsical. I do whatever I type at the time...