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Is the following sentence correctly punctuated (specifically, is a comma needed between "tall" and "white"?

Beyond them was a rather tall white counter, and seated behind it sat the doctor's secretary.

Thanks so much!

Alex

Laurel
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Alex K
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2 Answers2

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Beyond them was a rather tall white counter, and seated behind it sat the doctor's secretary.

Whether the noun phrase in bold is punctuated correctly or not depends on the intended meaning. In "a rather tall, white counter", "counter" is modified by a coordination of modifiers giving the meaning a "counter that is both rather tall and white".

By contrast, without punctuation, "a rather tall white counter" has two layers of modification called stacking: "counter is modified by "white" to form the nominal "white counter", and this in turn is modified by "rather tall" to give the interpretation "counter that is rather tall by the usual size applicable to white ones".

BillJ
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Yes.

You use a comma between two adjectives that can be interchangeable, meaning you can switch the order and it would still make sense.

For example, I will use your sentence.

Beyond them was a rather tall, white counter

You can switch them, and it would still make sense.

Beyond them was a rather white, tall counter

I will make another example, this time it cannot be interchangeable, so you wouldn't use a comma.

I bought a wardrobe of some cheap winter clothes

If you change the order, it wouldn't make sense:

I bought a wardrobe of some winter cheap clothes

You can read more about it here on grammar book. It not only explains this issue, but also using commas in general.

Sweet_Cherry
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  • Hi, Thanks for your reply. This is the dilemma I was struggling with. Placing "white" before "tall" sounds off to me. Perhaps it's just me, but placing tall before white sounds better (perhaps, even necessary?). In addition, "rather" is meant to apply to the height of the table, not to the colour of the table. When white is placed before tall, I interpret the sentence to mean that the colour of the counter was somewhat (i.e. rather) white? Any clarification is appreciated! – Alex K Dec 30 '18 at 21:42
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    See rules for adjective order. – Robusto Dec 30 '18 at 21:47
  • @AlexK In my answer I was only clarifying the interchangeable part. You should follow the rules for the order of adjectives. Putting white before tall can make sense, so it means that you should place commas between. – Sweet_Cherry Dec 30 '18 at 22:08