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It doesn't seem like it changes the meaning in an obvious way. Does the order of adjectives matter or is it just in my head and just due to happening to phrase it one way rather than another more often?

Bratchley
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    The general answer is that of nesting modification. You're modifying "main site" rather than "external site", in which case you are implying there are 2 main sites, one of which is external, which makes no sense. In "External Site" you are saying there are multiple external sites, 1 one them which is treated as the main one of that group. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 20:08
  • Sure the order matters. – Yosef Baskin Mar 14 '17 at 20:12
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    @Durakken Why does it not make sense to say that there are several main sites, one of which is external (the other[s] presumably internal)? The existence of two main sites would presumably be in addition to various secondary sites. I disagree with the premise of this question: both sound perfectly normal and not awkward at all to me, though they mean different things. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 20:30
  • @Durakken There are two website that can be described as being the "main" site, one is our group's intranet website with all sorts of tools on it, the other is the group's external internet website. We have loads of secondary sites so each one is "the main" site in the context of "internal" or "external" – Bratchley Mar 14 '17 at 20:34
  • Although actually now that I think of it, I think that might actually be it. Describing a website as the "main site" implies that there is a single website in question, so it probably sounds awkward then to modify it to be more specific. – Bratchley Mar 14 '17 at 20:40
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is predicated on the misconception that the order of adjectives is immaterial and arbitrary. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 14 '17 at 20:42
  • It's not predicated on that, that's part of my question. I guess I can edit to be clearer. – Bratchley Mar 14 '17 at 20:44
  • edited but it does seem like it's a duplicate of that other question. – Bratchley Mar 14 '17 at 20:45
  • @Bratchley It's a similar question, but not exactly the same. Your question is "why does this sound wrong/right" where as the other question is "what are the rules" to which the real answer is nesting + whatever sounds best, which just happens to usually follow the given order in that question, which isn't useful here... regardless to answer your further question is still it's a matter of nesting and grouping. You can have multiple main sites, so long as they are in different groups, otherwise, they are not a "main" site. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 20:53
  • @JanusBahsJacquet It only makes sense to say there are several main sites if there are several groups we are talking about, in this case we are talking about the group "external sites" of which there is only 1 that is main. In exernal main site you are talking about the group of all sites one of which can be main in that group and it happens to be external... "external" is pointless to add because even though the main site is either internal or external, it is still main over all of them, though saying it is external might be useful in technical contexts, in general it is not and thus dropped – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 21:02
  • @Durakken No, that is incorrect. In external main site, the group you are talking about is not ‘all sites’ but ‘main sites’, which is a subgroup of ‘all sites’. There is no reason that only one site should be able to be considered ‘main’ in the group ‘all sites’—there can be several main sites, as indeed Bratchley’s comment above says. External main site describes the situation given in Bratchley’s comment perfectly and naturally—there is nothing awkward about t to me, and there is certainly no logic- or grammar-based reason why it should not make sense. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 21:14
  • @JanusBahsJacquet No, because "Main" is modifying "Site" where we are establishing that we are talking about more than one. "External Site" is talking about 1 site. "Main Site" is talking about at least 2. "External" isn't modifying number where as "Main" is. "External" modifies group, not number in the group. You are treating the words as 1 word and 1 modifer rather than 2 which causes you to come to your conclusion. I'm treating them as 2 words that nest which is where I'm drawing my concusion. Yout treatment doesn't sync with usage. Both word orders are legit, just mean different things. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 21:36
  • @Durakken A main external site is an external site that is the main one; that is, it is the main entry in the group of external sites, a subgroup of all sites. An external main site is a main site that is the external one; that is, it is the external entry in the group of main sites, another subgroup of all sites. In both cases, the first adjective modifies a noun phrase consisting of a noun modified by an adjective; the rest follows naturally from the meanings of the two adjectives. I don't understand your explanation there at all, but yes, both are possible and mean different things. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 21:41
  • @JanusBahsJacquet if I say "main site" i'm establish that there is more than 1. If I say "external site" I'm establishing that the site is external. If I say "Main External Site" I am now establish there there is more than one external site and which I'm talknig about. When I say "External Main Site" I am adding the information that the main site we're talking about without the "external" bit is also external that the listener doesn't already likely know. It adds information, but it is redundant, because if I know which is the main site of all sites, then I likely know that it is external. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 21:50
  • @JanusBahsJacquet "External Main Site" doesn't make the noun any more specific. While "Main External Site" does make the noun more specific. In general, we try to be only as specific as need be and try not to be redundant as little as possible. So what happens when we here "External Main site" our brain goes "ok what are they trying to say with that extra info?" and it takes a fraction longer to process and results in no extra information to the listener which makes it feel awkward. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 21:54
  • @Durakken You're still talking about “which is the main site of all sites”, which is a false predilection. There can be more than one main site. That's the whole point. Adding external does make it more specific: it distinguishes the external main site from the internal main site. Both are main sites, but they are distinct. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 21:55
  • @JanusBahsJacquet There can't be more than one main site. That's the definition of the word main. The main one is the one you use the most or that is the most important of the group. It is the one of first concern. You can have a group of sites that are main sites in their own group, but of that group there is one main site within that group of sites that are main in their own sub-groups. "main external" is identifying a subgroup from which a site is main for, but "external main" is just adding that THE main site is external. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 22:01
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    @Durakken No. You're quite simply wrong. There can be more than one main site. Look up main in a dictionary—nothing about it necessarily limiting the noun it modifies to just one. ODO, for example, has several example sentences of main [plural], like “the three main candidates”, “one of the main reasons”, etc. That is perfectly normal English. Main does not mean what you say it means. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 22:09
  • @JanusBahsJacquet except in this case the word "site" is singular and has no other numbering modifier so your juxtaposition is wrong, but even so if i say "of the main reasons what is the main reason" I am nullifying the non-main from previous which makes the previous "mains" no longer main. In other words when "main" is plural we're talking about a (singular) main set, of which another singular main set can be pulled, until there is only 1 in the set. Any time you add a modifier to this you are then creating 2+ sets in which only 1 can be main. – Durakken Mar 14 '17 at 22:31
  • @Durakken Yes, site here is singular, because the entire noun phrase (including both adjectives) is singular and refers to a particular site. That does not in any way mean that there can be only one main site. The external site is also singular, but that doesn't mean that there cannot be more than one external site—just that you're currently talking about a specific one. That's how the definite article and grammatical number function in English. End of story. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 22:36

1 Answers1

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Main is a comparative adjective used to compare between objects.

If you have several external sites, one of which is more important than the others, then that site is your main external site. You may, or may not, also have some internal sites, some of which may be more important than your main external one.

If, out of all your sites, internal or external, you have a most important one, then that is your main site. If this site is external then you can describe it as an external main site, or more commonly you would say that you have an external main site. Your most important site is external.

It is like having a French best friend, this means that your best friend is French. If you say you have a best French friend then he or she is the best out of all your French friends, but you may have better friends in England or Germany, for example.

davidlol
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  • +1, though I don’t think main can meaningfully be called a comparative adjective. It is not morphologically comparative (that would have been something like *mainer, which doesn’t exist), and it’s no more comparative in function than external (or tall, blue, etc.). All those also imply some level of comparison: the tall one implies that there are others that are less tall, the external one implies there are internal ones, etc. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 14 '17 at 20:33
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    Some adjectives give additional information about the referent in isolation (a blue ball; a true statement). Some give information about how the referent compares (the biggest ball; the main reason) to other members of the referent's set. Some refer to a hidden referent (a proud day [possibly for a child's parents]), and some to the referent's set (a mere youth). – Edwin Ashworth Mar 14 '17 at 20:54