C. S. Lewis (remember "The Chronicles of Narnia"?) wrote in his "Letters to Children": 'In writing, don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was "terrible", describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, "Please will you do my job for me".'
While this may apply to a word such as "delightful" which is an opinion, it still doesn't tell us anything about the size, the age, the shape, the colour, the origin, the material, or the purpose of the thing we're are describing. That's where OSASCOMP comes in: several adjectives together must be arranged in the order of Opinion, then Size, followed by Age, Shape, Colour, and Origin. Finally, Material and Purpose.
If you didn't know this, then you are a native speaker who instinctively speaks of "the big, red house". "The red, big house" sounds wrong, doesn't it? Just as "I bought a new, beautiful, leather, big black work bag" sounds terrible. So, instinctively, you bought yourself a beautiful, big, new, black leather work bag. And that made all the difference.
Another secret of your native language brought to you by your resident bloody wog - or should that be 'bloody resident wog'?
