Weight of adjectives

Weighing the value of adjectives is a straightforward idea. On the ACT, it mainly shows up as a comma question: when do you separate adjectives with commas, and when do you leave them alone?

In English, you can place one or more adjectives (see the Parts of Speech chapter) before a noun to describe it. Imagine you’re at a dog park and you say, “Look at the dog.” That’s not very helpful - there are probably several dogs, so it’s unclear which one you mean.

To make the noun more specific, you add adjectives:

Sometimes one adjective is enough: the large dog.

Other times you need several: the large, slobbering, mangy, black-and-white dog.

How adjective “weight” affects commas

Some adjectives have more “weight,” meaning they’re more closely tied to the noun than others. Heavier (more closely attached) adjectives usually sit closer to the noun. Lighter adjectives come before them.

For the ACT, the key rule is this:

• Adjectives of equal weight are separated with commas.
• Adjectives of different weight are not separated with commas.

A common way to test this is the “and” test:

• If you can reasonably insert the word “and” between two adjectives and the sentence still makes sense, those adjectives are equal weight and need a comma.
• If inserting “and” sounds wrong or changes the meaning, they’re different weight and you don’t use a comma.

Example

Let’s take a look at an example of weighing adjectives.

The two energetic playful North American otters busied themselves in the sparkling river.

Here, four adjectives modify the noun “otters.” Use the “and” test to decide where commas belong.

The two [and] energetic otters busied themselves…

That doesn’t work, so there’s no comma between two and energetic.

The energetic [and] playful otters busied themselves…

That does work. Energetic and playful are equal weight, so you need a comma between them.

The playful [and] North American otters busied themselves…

“North American” is a species/region label that’s more tightly connected to “otters” than “playful” is. The “and” sounds wrong here, so you don’t use a comma.

Therefore, you want just one comma:

The two energetic, playful North American otters busied themselves in the sparkling river.

Exercise

The large spacious white Victorian mansion loomed in the distance.

A. NO CHANGE
B. The large spacious, white Victorian mansion
C. The large, spacious, white, Victorian mansion
D. The large spacious, white Victorian mansion
E. The large, spacious white Victorian mansion

Do you know the answer?

Remember this:

• Identify this question type when you see more than one adjective (descriptor) on a single noun
• Put the word “and” between each pair of adjectives to see if it needs a comma
• If the “and” makes sense, it needs a comma. If it really doesn’t work, no comma is needed.

That’s it.