ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: WHICH comes first? (number Or superlative)

rvw — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:02:16 GMT

The following is from Mary Ansell's English Grammar: Explanations and Exercises. In your sentences, the numbers should precede the superlatives. Otherwise, one might get the feeling that there are several groups of 50 people each and you are selecting the most beautiful group.

Usual Order of Attributive Adjectives

1) certain determiners such as all, both and half
2) determiners including the articles a, and and the;
possessive adjectives e.g. my, his, her, our and their;
demonstrative adjectives e.g. that, these, this, and those; and
certain other determiners such as another, any, each, either,
enough, every, neither, no, some, what and which
3) cardinal numbers e.g. one, two, three; and
certain other determiners such as few, many and several
4) determiners such as fewer, fewest, least, less, more and most
5) general descriptive adjectives, often in the following order:
a) adjectives indicating size e.g. large, long, narrow
b) adjectives indicating weight e.g. heavy, light
c) participles and other adjectives e.g. clever, excited, interesting
d) adjectives indicating temperature e.g. cold, hot, warm
e) adjectives indicating humidity e.g. dry, damp, wet
f) adjectives indicating age e.g. new, six-month-old, young
g) adjectives indicating shape e.g. barrel-shaped, round, square
6) adjectives indicating color e.g. blue, grey, white
7) adjectives indicating materials e.g. cloth, leather, metal
8) proper adjectives e.g. American, Victorian
9) defining adjectives, usually indicating purpose, method of operation, location,
time or categories of people

Re: WHICH comes first? (number Or superlative)

pieanne — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:58:42 GMT

I'd also use the number first.

Re: WHICH comes first? (number Or superlative)

paco2004 — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:41:22 GMT

Jenthecute wrote:
By the way, I guess..
the most beautiful 50 people / the most recent 30 calls are right.

I'm afraid you are wrong. All the NY Times reporters use the order of <THE+ numeral+most+Adj>.

paco

Re: WHICH comes first? (number Or superlative)

Jenthecute — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:00:46 GMT

the numbers(30/50) and the superlative(most beautiful/the most recent) are both adjectives here, right??

Can anyone tell me how to list the adjectives(such as old/colour/time and so on.) in one sentence?? THANKS!

By the way, I guess..

the most beautiful 50 people / the most recent 30 calls are right.

WHICH comes first? (number Or superlative)

Jenthecute — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 08:58:37 GMT

ex1) the most beautilful 50 people OR the 50 most beautiful people

ex2) the most recent 30 calls OR the 30 most recent calls

If they are both correct, which way would you use more?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!! :->