"They were all healthy, thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited, the boys as mettlesome as the horses they rode, mettlesome and dangerous but, withal, sweet-tempered to those who knew how to handle them."
This is a selection from Gone with the Wind. It is a long sentence puzzling me.
Why there is not a comma preceding thoughtless, that is to say, they were all healthy and thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited?
a long sentence
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Re: a long sentence
But there IS a comma preceding "thoughtless".judytu wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:42 am"They were all healthy, thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited, the boys as mettlesome as the horses they rode, mettlesome and dangerous but, withal, sweet-tempered to those who knew how to handle them."
Why there is not a comma preceding thoughtless...?
"We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood :-| " — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood
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eBooks: English Prepositions List | Essential Business Words | Learn English in Seven
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Re: a long sentence
Ah, embarrassing. Why there is a comma but not "and"
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Re: a long sentence
There is no rule that says that adjectives before a noun have to be separated by "and", except to avoid ambiguity or for two colours, eg:
She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.
compare
She was wearing a long, blue, silk dress.
She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.
compare
She was wearing a long, blue, silk dress.
"We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood :-| " — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood
eBooks: English Prepositions List | Essential Business Words | Learn English in Seven
eBooks: English Prepositions List | Essential Business Words | Learn English in Seven
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Re: a long sentence
Oh I see. Thank you very much.