This post is a short primer on stacked modifiers: multiple words that describe a noun.

Guideline 1: Adjectives Follow a Specific Sequence

Our brains act as automatic sorters with two or three descriptors, organizing word-strings without conscious thought. However, we might fumble when we encounter lengthy phrases.

Quantity comes before color.

Would you ever say I bought white two dresses? No. You understand that the correct phrasing is I bought two white dresses.

Opinion precedes size, which precedes physical quality.

The muscular, small, horrible man made an obscene gesture.

The horrible, small, muscular man made an obscene gesture.

Age precedes nationality.

The American elderly woman brandished an anti-abortion sign.

The elderly American woman brandished an anti-abortion sign.

Material precedes purpose.

The sports nylon leggings chafed my legs.

The nylon sports leggings chafed my legs.

The Generally Accepted Order:

Quantity (fifteen, a few, several, many, heaps of, scads)

Opinion (fantastic, horrible, good, bad, beautiful, funny)

Size (big, small, gigantic, queen-sized, bite-sized, petite)

Physical quality (overweight, muscular, emaciated, robust)

Age (elderly, teenage, retired, newborn, adolescent)

Shape (oval, triangular, asymmetrical, octagonal, irregular)

Color (white, black, red, checkered, multicolor, piebald)

Nationality or place of origin (American, Chinese, Californian)

Material (paper, fur, glass, flour, nylon, metal, cardboard)

Purpose (sports, sparring, refrigerating, culinary, safety)

Guideline 2: The Number of Stacked Modifiers Should be Limited

This is a logical derivative of the previous section.

Read these sentences out loud:

Several disgusting, tiny, skinny, oval black bugs marched across the carpet.

Three tall, robust, retired American men patrolled the neighborhood every night.

A dozen delicious, bite-sized, day-old chocolate doughnuts lay on the shelf, tempting me to break my diet.

Did you get lost in the word parades? The payoff for repetition is not emphasis, but confusion, and the abundance of commas results in choppy reading.

Try to limit the total adjectives and adverbs in any given group to three or fewer.

Let’s revisit the preceding sentences.

Sentence 1

Several disgusting, tiny, skinny, oval black bugs marched across the carpet.

Do we need both tiny and skinny? Is oval necessary? Readers will have a preconceived notion of what bugs look like. We can probably drop disgusting as well, because opinion adjectives break POV if not reported through the correct character. Furthermore, most readers will have their own feelings about bugs.

Several skinny black bugs marched across the carpet.

This sentence is easier to read. Did it lose anything with the edits? Note that several modifies skinny black bugs; therefore, commas are unnecessary. [See Guideline 4.]

Sentence 2

Three tall, robust, retired American men patrolled the neighborhood every night.

Tall and robust, although they embrace different connotations, could be distilled to one word. Is it necessary to describe the men as American? Unless the reference is crucial to the story, we could drop it.

Three robust, retired men patrolled the neighborhood every night.

Essential details have been preserved. As per Guideline 4, some editors would be happy to omit the comma.

If nationality is important, men could be changed to Americans, and gender could be clarified via context.

Sentence 3

A dozen delicious, bite-sized, day-old chocolate doughnuts lay on the shelf, tempting me to break my diet.

Delicious is an opinion word. Since the doughnuts tempt the protagonist, their tastiness is implied. Bite-sized is an unimportant detail.

A dozen day-old chocolate doughnuts lay on the shelf, tempting me to break my diet.

Is your mouth watering yet? Hmm. Day-old doughnuts? Maybe not.

Guideline 3: Hyphenate Connected Modifiers When They Precede Nouns But Not When They Follow

The high-definition television teetered on top of the trash.

The television teetering on top of the trash was high definition.

Her over-the-top theatrical performance disgusted the audience.

Her theatrical performance was over the top, disgusting the audience.

Hyphens inform human eyes that the connected words form a single idea.

Note the lack of hyphens in modifiers following nouns; although to avoid confusion, hyphenation might be warranted for the given examples. This leads to the next point.

Exception: If misinterpretation is likely or possible with modifiers following nouns, connect the words with hyphens:

Stephen King is well known for his horror novels.

Without a hyphen, readers might for a microsecond assume that well refers to Stephen King’s health. Some sources recommend that all instances of well + [modifier] phrases be connected by hyphens.

A better version would be:

Stephen King is well-known for his horror novels.

Another example:

Ted is dead serious.

To avoid making readers think for a moment that Ted is dead, a hyphen is recommended.

Ted is dead-serious.

A third example:

Marie is high spirited.

Is Marie high on drugs, or is she high-spirited?

Easier to understand:

Marie is high-spirited.

Read just the first word whenever you encounter stacked modifiers following a noun. Could your writing be misinterpreted? If yes, hyphenate.

Another exception: This guideline doesn’t apply to very and adverbs ending in ly.

The very old man gulped down his coffee.

The sparsely applied SPF-60 sunblock didn’t protect Jerold in the areas he missed.

Careful with ly words.

The lovely-looking sky clouded over.

Although lovely ends in ly, it’s an adjective, not an adverb; therefore, a hyphen is suggested.

To locate more examples and guidelines for hyphenated adjectives, search the internet for PDF adjectives hyphenated before but not after a noun Chicago Manual of Style.

Guideline 4: A Comma Isn’t Required After a Descriptor That Modifies an Adjective-Noun Combination

The grumpy old man mumbled as he walked.

Grumpy describes old man.

The men unloaded twenty high-definition TVs from the truck.

Twenty describes high-definition TVs.

His tight blue T-shirt clung to his body.

Tight describes blue T-shirt.

Hyphenated Modifiers Considered by Many as Invariant

Here’s a partial list of compound modifiers that could retain their hyphenation when they follow a noun. Use your best judgment to create clear phrasing and maintain a consistent approach.

A to D
absent-minded, best-known, bite-sized, black-and-blue, black-and-white, broken-hearted, cholesterol-free, class-action, day-old, dead-serious, dead-to-rights, deep-rooted, double-breasted

E to G
ear-piercing, English-speaking, eye-popping, fast-moving, fat-free, first-hand, first-rate, full-length, full-scale, good-looking

H to L
hand-to-hand, hand-to-mouth, heart-rending, high-minded, high-risk, high-spirited, ice-cold, ill-humored, kind-hearted, last-minute, long-lasting, long-winded, low-key, low-risk

M to P
mean-spirited, meat-eating, middle-aged, narrow-minded, never-ending, off-limits, old-fashioned, open-minded, over-the-top, part-time, paycheck-to-paycheck

Q to S
queen-sized, quick-witted, ready-to-eat, record-breaking, red-blooded, red-handed, second-hand, short-haired, skin-deep, slow-moving, small-town, state-of-the-art, strong-willed, sugar-free, sure-footed

T to W
thought-provoking, tight-fisted, time-saving, tone-deaf, top-notch, up-to-date, up-to-the-minute, waist-high, well-known, well-made, well-paid, well-thought-of, well-written, wide-eyed, world-famous, world-renown

Test Your Understanding

Which of the following sentences are incorrect?

1. The British absent minded professor spoke in a monotone.
2. The British professor was absent minded and spoke in a monotone.
3. The metal octagonal disk glinted in the sun.
4. The children ate several oatmeal gigantic cookies.
5. The couple celebrated with a huge fantastic party.
6. Bill’s ear piercing scream could be heard three rooms away.
7. The dappled overweight horse clip-clopped down the street.
8. Harry’s diet consisted of cholesterol free, sugar free foods.
9. A cloudless, blue sky stretched from horizon to horizon.
10. My big red horrible running shoes chafed my heels.

ANSWER: Every sentence contains at least one mistake. Review the corrected versions below.

1. The absent-minded British professor spoke in a monotone.
   [See Guideline 1, Guideline 3.]
2. The British professor was absent-minded and spoke in a monotone.
   [See Guideline 3 exceptions.]
3. The octagonal metal disk glinted in the sun.
   [See Guideline 1.]
4. The children ate several gigantic oatmeal cookies.
   [See Guideline 1, Guideline 4.]
5. The couple celebrated with a fantastic huge party.
   [See Guideline 1, Guideline 4. A comma before fantastic might please some readers.]
6. Bill’s ear-piercing scream could be heard three rooms away.
   [See Guideline 3.]
7. The overweight dappled horse clip-clopped down the street.
   [See Guideline 1, Guideline 4.]
8. Harry’s diet consisted of cholesterol-free, sugar-free foods.
   [See Guideline 3.]
9. A cloudless blue sky stretched from horizon to horizon.
   [See Guideline 4.]
10. My horrible, big red running shoes chafed my heels.
    [See Guideline 1, Guideline 4. You might feel happier with a comma after big.]