Question

which pair of adjectives in this sentence should be joined by a comma? select the best answer.

the yellowed worn photos featured a woman in an ornate bridal gown.

answer

• worn, photos
• yellowed, worn
• bridal, gown

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Coordinate Adjectives
Adjectives that modify a noun equally and need commas.

Step 1: Understand coordinate adjectives

When two or more adjectives modify the same noun, they are either coordinate or cumulative.

• Coordinate adjectives modify the noun equally. You can tell they are coordinate if you can reverse their order or put the word "and" between them without changing the meaning. Coordinate adjectives must be separated by a comma.
• Cumulative adjectives build on each other to modify the noun and cannot be reversed or separated by "and." They do not get a comma.

Step 2: Test the pairs in the sentence

Let's look at the sentence: "The yellowed worn photos featured a woman in an ornate bridal gown."

• Test 1: "yellowed" and "worn" (modifying "photos")
• Can we reverse them? "The worn yellowed photos..." (Yes, this sounds natural.)
• Can we put "and" between them? "The yellowed and worn photos..." (Yes, this makes perfect sense.)
• Since both tests pass, yellowed and worn are coordinate adjectives and must be separated by a comma.

• Test 2: "ornate" and "bridal" (modifying "gown")
• Can we reverse them? "an bridal ornate gown" (No, this sounds incorrect.)
• "Bridal" is a cumulative adjective closely linked to the noun "gown" to form a single concept ("bridal gown"). Therefore, no comma is used between "ornate" and "bridal."

• Note on other options:
• "worn, photos" separates an adjective from the noun it modifies, which is grammatically incorrect.
• "bridal, gown" separates an adjective from its noun, which is also incorrect.

Answer:

yellowed, worn