(no subject)

[coraa]

(To clarify, I'm looking for what you use, not what you think is 'correct.')

[Poll #1238529]

(No, no reason.)

Comments

[jmpava.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was petting the gray kitten, not the black one. Sheesh!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I was taught dove, but I've seen dived by copyeditors, etc.

I was taught sneaked (and scolded if we wrote snuck) but I think snuck is being accepted.

I was taught to put the comma between adjectives, but note that it frequently is left out--in fact I leave it out because in reading aloud I don't do a comma pause in my voice.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

With both dived/dove and sneaked/snuck, I've heard that one variant is the older, more traditionally-accepted version, and the other is the newer, gaining-acceptance version -- but I can never remember which is which!

I wouldn't put a comma in "small black cat" myself -- despite having been also taught to put commas between adjectives -- but I'm less sure what I'd do with, say, "wet angry cat." I think I might put a comma there. I'm not sure why, except possibly that I think of "black cat" as being one unit, but "angry cat" is two units. I'm not sure.

[pnew8.livejournal.com]

The rule I've heard on small black kitten is whether the first adjective describes the second adjective, whether small described black, since it doesn't, a comma goes in.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd put the comma there because I"hear" the comma-pause when saying it aloud. I think that's because I want to make clear that this is a wet cat that happens to be angry, and not a wet angrycat, so to speak.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I was taught to put a comma between adjectives only if the word "and" could be substituted for the comma and preserve the meaning. "The small and black kitten" might work, but I think most people would really mean "the small blackkitten."

[donaithnen.livejournal.com]

Except i would have said "the ninja snuck up on his victim" :)

And i think i would have tried to come up with some construction that would have allowed me to say "petting" or some other form rather than "petted."

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

I regard 'dove' as a US usage. It's certainly not in regular use in the UK, or if it is, it's recent and I missed the memo.

[belenen.livejournal.com]

with two adjectives I do not usually use a comma, but I think it depends. With a gerund I think I would use a comma: angry, screeching cat. I've no idea if that is correct -- it's just my instinct.

[porfinn.livejournal.com]

If you had asked me about a pit filled with balls at Chuckie Cheese Pizza, or the soap I use, I would have chosen "dove", but Olympic athletes "dived".

Sherlock Holmes never sneaked (except maybe as teenager), but Watson might. For whatever reason I think I would refer to a certain great dane and his friends because then I could say, "Scooby and his gang sneaked about in their sneakers."

Don't comas kind of resemble confetti? I just throw a handful at the page and hope they land properly. I might or might not use one, I play it where it lies, not worrying too much where I lay them. But I can't imagine not having to use several commas before the word "kitten" since I doubt I could restrain myself with just two adjectives with regards to any sort of nasty, horrible, fuzzy thing.

But I had a great time looking everything up. Thank you for the fun puzzle.

[triath.livejournal.com]

It depends on the two adjectives. I use a comma if it helps to make sense of the sentence. But this one I definitely wouldn't use one.

[madduckdes.livejournal.com]

If the adjectives are long words, I'm more likely to use the comma because I'm more likely to actually pause.

I say "pet," even in past tense. "Petted" sounds weird to me.