In Humphrey Carpenter's biography Tolkien, JRR remembers at age seven that his mother taught him
that one could not say "a green great dragon", but had to say "a great green dragon". I wondered why, and still do.
I admit that 'a great green dragon' sounds better to my ear, but is there some language reason/rule that both JRR and I (ERR) have missed?
Emmett
Dragons come in various colors, just as dogs come in breeds. There are mighty and courageous bronzes and smaller, weaker, playful greens, to name two colors. .
There are both miniature collies, and miniature poodles, but not collie and poodle miniatures. Â Similarly, great would seem to apply to the breed, rather than the other way around.
But I haven't visited Pern since the 1970s, and my memory is a little foggy.
Adjective order is a fascinating topic in Syntax. Unsurprisingly, there are differing rules by language. Here are some discussions at different levels regarding English.
A quick guide to English adjective order
An easy academic discussion of Adjective Order in English (also a few examples in other languages).
I've started to read the adjective order thesis, but I'm immediately stymied by the introduction of NP, with no explanation that I can find of what that refers to. Help, please?
Thanks,
Peter
Yeah, me too. Couldn't find jack about what "NP" was. It's used several times in that paper. I was kinda working with "noun phrase" for "NP" but that didn't scan for some instances. I checked  acronymfinder.com and "noun phrase" is the #5 hit. But I'm still not sure.
Then Rosato throws in a "DP" on page 5, and I have no idea what that might mean. Tried it on acronymfinder.com and got 218 hits, none of which made sense.
Glenn, that first link (A quick guide to English adjective order) was very interesting. I didn't know the adjective hierarchy was so well-defined. Thanks!