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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?

Originally asked in English Language & Usage.

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  • Soft and warm are both properties of the pants. Soft usually comes first because it's more common.
    – FeliniusRex - gone
    Feb 28, 2021 at 0:42
  • They're both conditions — they should go before age and after size. The order of soft and warm doesn't matter that much — see Google Ngrams.
    – Peter Shor
    Feb 28, 2021 at 1:45
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    Actually, thinking more about it, I think the order should have one entry for "age and condition". Looking at Google Ngrams, "soft" and "old", can appear in either order. Similarly for "new" and "warm".
    – Peter Shor
    Feb 28, 2021 at 13:07

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