Adjective may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, like Spanish, it may only be a default ("unmarked") word order, with other orders being permissible. Other languages, such as Tagalog, follow their adjectival orders as rigidly as English. The normal adjectival order of English may be overridden in certain circumstances, especially when one adjective is being fronted. In addition, the usual order of adjectives in English would result in the phrase "the bad big wolf" (opinion before size), but instead the usual phrase is "the big bad wolf", perhaps because the ablaut reduplication rule that high vowels precede
Adjective phrase ambiguity must be considered when considering the semantic versus pragmatic meaning. The following examples prove two things: "Note: This section can be added into the adjectives page, but ambiguity can also apply to adjective phrases. Additionally, comma placements and intonations may have a role in figuring out ambiguity, but English has a written form of communication that is more ambiguous than spoken communication." The following examples show the different interpretive properties of pre- and post-nominal adjectives which are inside adjective phrases. 1) Intersective versus non-intersective a. Ambiguous sentence: I’ve never met a more beautiful dancer than Mary b. Unambiguous sentence: