American English puts adjectives before nouns. Okay. Not too confusing. We even add a LOT of adjectives in a row and finally get to the noun. But what about a noun in front of another noun? The first noun becomes an adjective! Okay, now that I know that, maybe not too confusing. But what about an adjective before a noun before another noun? YIKES! Stop. Totally confusing. If your communications include this sequence, please rethink the wording so that your listeners / readers/ customers do not become confused.

Here is an example of the first scenario: Small dog. Small brown dog. Small, brown, cute dog. Small, brown, cute, shaggy dog. You get the idea. Just keep adding adjectives, as long as there is only one noun, I am not confused (but I may run out of patience looking for the noun).

For the second scenario, I’ll tell you about a conversation I had with a neighbor when we were talking about the recent freezing weather: She starts by saying, “My back is bad.” I think that she is talking about her back, especially because I was weeding when she started to talk. Back is a noun. Then she adds, “My back yard.” (usually combined into one word – backyard). Ah hah! A combination of nouns that turns the first noun into an adjective. What yard? A yard at the back of the house. Okay. Got it.

• A slight modification is a noun, then an adjective, then a noun, like the star spangled banner. To be sure we read the phrase as the banner is the noun, modified by the two preceding words, it would be clearer to write it as star-spangled banner. If this phrase is orally communicated; however, the meaning could be confusing.

It’s the third scenario that REALLY confuses me.

Here is an example, from a website that sells a variety of items: “quilted clothes organizers.”

• Is this an organizer for “quilted clothes” or is the organizer the thing that is quilted? Does the adjective, quilted, modify the first noun or the second? Or both?
• It turns out that the organizer is quilted. I had to read further: “Quilted organizer keeps clothes fresh.” So, only the second noun was modified by the adjective.

Here is my favorite confusing example: If I order “shrimp cocktail” at a restaurant or hotel, I most often receive large shrimp. But the serving is small. And the container is small.

So, what does it mean when my local grocery store advertises a “small shrimp platter“?

• Hmm . . . are the shrimp small or is the platter small? It turns out that BOTH are small. AGH!

That’s why changing a noun (shrimp) into an adjective (what kind of platter? a shrimp platter!) and then adding another adjective (small) can cause confusion! Those of you who send marketing materials or communicate with a lot of adjectives, please don’t make your customers and listeners guess!

• What examples of confusing adjectives have you seen??

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