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Winter continues to chill us in Colorado. I enjoy lounging in my warm, soft sleep pants. Or are they soft and warm? I couldn't figure out which OSASCOMP category warm belongs in. To me, soft seems like a material. I found Adjectives Word Order Woodward English, which adds number and condition to opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose: NOSCASCOMP. Can I trust the NOSCASCOMP guidance? In that case, maybe it doesn't matter because warm and soft could both be considered the condition of the pants. Or was my first instinct correct, that soft belongs to the material category?

tbc0
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  • This probably will get better answers in ell.stackexchange.com – GEdgar Feb 27 '21 at 21:53
  • Ok, done https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/276423/10787 thank you – tbc0 Feb 27 '21 at 22:06
  • Don't worry too much about it, most native speakers had never heard of the order rule until recently, we do put adjectives in order but we do it instinctively. The order rule is real but is just a reflection of the normal practice. Personally I would regard both 'soft' and 'warm' as opinion adjectives since they are subjective qualities. I would probably say 'soft, warm' myself but don't ask me why. Having said that I would say 'soft, warm, blue, brushed cotton sleep pants so that reduces your options. – BoldBen Feb 27 '21 at 22:09
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    I've heard of "preferred order", but I don't recall ever seeing "OSASCOMP" before this. – Hot Licks Feb 27 '21 at 22:18
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    See https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1155/what-is-the-rule-for-adjective-order for one of the many duplicates of the “adjective order” question, this one with a highly rated answer. – Xanne Feb 28 '21 at 01:39
  • This site adds physical quality to the list. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/amp/british-grammar/adjectives-order I also think soft and warm are Opinion adjectives. – Jim Feb 28 '21 at 07:09

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