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"Thick red dotted line", or "dotted thick red line", or...?

English Language Learners Asked on November 22, 2021

I would say "dotted red line", but I’m very unsure. Dictionary and web searches didn’t lead to a definitive answer. This answer points to a British Council link which seems to confirm "dotted red line", but I would be happy to get an answer with references to grammar books or to concrete literature usage. Thank you!

Edit: Of course my question also concerns "solid blue curve", "dashed green circle", and so on.

In my specific case, both adjectives qualify the same line. In preparing plots one can distinguish lines by their colour, but to avoid problems in case of black & white printing, for example, it’s useful to add additional distinguishing features such as the continuity (or thickness) of the line . So a plot could consist of a solid thin blue line and a dashed thick red line – or which permutation of the three adjectives should I use?

One Answer

Generally shape before colour: "dotted red line", but google finds plenty of results for both.

If you have several dotted lines, and you want to specify the red one then say "the red dotted line", on the other hand if you have several red lines and you want to specify the dotted one, "the dotted red line". If you have a whole mixture then follow shape before colour "the dotted red line", and be aware that there is variation in use.

In particular there is a book with the title A Red Dotted Line (It's a spy novel set in Moscow), and in terms of grammar references, you won't do better than the British Council.

Answered by James K on November 22, 2021

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