comma btw adjective and participle: the screaming, white-haired man's

[Rabelaisian]

Adjective commas really drive me nuts sometimes. For example:

He held it over the screaming, white-haired man's left-hand palm.

Should I keep that comma or lose it?

Thanks.

 

[Cenzontle]

I read the comma as somehow equivalent to "and".
If you had several white-haired men and wanted to specify the screaming one, you would leave the comma out.

 

[Rabelaisian]

It's one man, so I guess I'll remove it, then.

Thanks.

 

[lucas-sp]

If you had several white-haired men and wanted to specify the screaming one, you would leave the comma out.

This would be: "There were seven white-haired men in the room. He walked over to the dyspeptic white-haired man and asked who the richest, most famous white-haired man there was. Meanwhile, the screaming white-haired man..."

Here, "white-haired man" doesn't seem to be motivated as a unit. So "white-haired" is modifying "man" along with "screaming," and there should be a comma between them.

 

[Cenzontle]

I was hoping you would say "It's one man, so I guess I'll keep the comma."

 

[Rabelaisian]

I was hoping you would say "It's one man, so I guess I'll keep the comma."

Oh, right, sorry. If it were several men, I'd leave it OUT. Got it.

Thanks.