The Unwritten Laws of Language
What We Know but Can’t Quite Say
Isn’t language a peculiar thing? Imagine strolling through a forest where the leaves whisper secrets, each rustling leaf, a rule, a structure of the English language we’ve been abiding by, possibly without even realizing. Mark Forsyth [1], in his enlightening piece, unravelled some of these cryptic, unwritten codes. Let’s embark on this linguistic journey together.
Adjective Order: The Unconscious List
Have you ever paused to ponder why “little green men” sounds acceptable, but “green little men” seems bizarre? Forsyth illuminates this conundrum by unveiling a tacit rule of English: adjectives must follow the order of opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose before the noun. Think of a “lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife”. Alter the sequence, and you’ll sound like you’re spouting gibberish. The beauty of this rule? While native speakers adhere to it, few can consciously list it out.
