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What's wrong with the green great dragon?
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| Lira |
Haha, I only know that it is wrong, I don't really know why in any convincing manner that goes beyond rote learning.
Still, it could be worse. In Portuguese it's either "great dragon green" (sounds better to me) or "dragon green great" (sound clunky, but still works) - the mirrored version of what you guys have :p |
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| Jon_Snow |
| When I started reading that article, the logic side of my brain said the order shouldn't matter then I read that sentence and I was like whaaaat! I can't remember if I was taught it in school or just picked it up as a native speaker. It's a little weird to find out you are following rules you weren't aware of. |
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| Lira |
Odds are you weren't taught it in school. Humans are great pattern spotters, and schools usually teach us "zombie rules" (i.e. rules you wouldn't pick up because no one really follows them except in very specific circumstances).
Assuming, of course, American schools are a bit like Brazilian schools :p |
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| SYSTEM-J |
It's probably the same principle that guides collocation - certain words are regarded as correct alongside others, but semantically interchangeable alternatives sound "wrong" for no logical reason. For example, "strong coffee" is fine, but "powerful coffee" seems somehow wrong, even though it conveys practically the same meaning.
This is because many of the rules of language are really just common consensus that we pick up from infancy. This is also why language drifts and changes over time and distance, and why linguistics is more about observing and describing language features rather than imposing strict logical rules. |
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| ViceroySF |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Haha, I only know that it is wrong, I don't really know why in any convincing manner that goes beyond rote learning.
Still, it could be worse. In Portuguese it's either "great dragon green" (sounds better to me) or "dragon green great" (sound clunky, but still works) - the mirrored version of what you guys have :p |
:-) |
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