THE COMMA Use a comma to separate two or more equivalent adjectives   Many languages, including Finnish, feel comfortable using 'and' between two adjectives that are considered to be equivalent. Although this use might be heard in spoken English, the written form totally avoids this use of 'and'. Kuten monen muunkin alunperin eksoottisen ja kalliin tekniikan kohdalla on käynyt, kirjoittavasta CD-asemasta on tullut tavallisen käyttäjän arkinen apuväline.   Similar to many other initially exotic, expensive technologies, CD-Recordable drives have become everyday tools for most users.   TWO TYPES OF ADJECTIVE GROUPS Adjectives (the words that describe nouns) can be divided into two types: "coordinate" and "cumulative" adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are those that need a comma between two or more adjectives, whereas cumulative adjectives require no comma. In neither case would "AND" be appropriate in academic writing, so we only need to worry about whether or not the adjective group requires a comma. Luckily, a 2-step test exists to help you to distinguish between coordinate and cumulative adjectives.   "COORDINATE" ADJECTIVES Coordinate adjectives can pass both of the following questions and should therefore be separated by commas. Can you put "and" between the adjectives? ...exotic and expensive technologies... YES! Can you reverse the order of the adjectives without changing the meaning? ...exotic expensive technologies... (original) YES! ...expensive exotic technologies... (reversed) YES! Notice that the adjectives can each modify the noun 'technologies' separately. They can be separated by the conjunction and' or placed in any order without affecting the meaning of the sentence. All three versions say the same thing, so the adjectives exotic and expensive must be coordinate adjectives and should therefore be separated by commas. Similar to many other initially exotic, expensive technologies, CD-Recordable drives have become everyday tools for most users.   "CUMULATIVE" ADJECTIVES Cumulative adjectives are those adjective pairs that fail the two-step test and should therefore appear in the same fixed order, without a comma, and without 'and'. Can you put "and" between the adjectives? ...modern and electronic devices... NO! Can you reverse the order of the adjectives without changing the meaning? ...modern electronic devices... (original) YES! ...electronic modern devices... (reversed) NO! Notice that the adjectives can each modify the noun 'devices' separately. They can not be separated by the conjunction and' or placed in any order without affecting the meaning of the sentence. The adjectives modern and electronic fail the two-step test and should therefore appear in the same fixed order, without a comma, and without 'and'. Almost all modern Ø electronic devices have internal clocks.

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