<p>the black female singer</p>
<p>in Cracking the ACT, it says that there shouldn't be a comma between black and female
but don't commas separate two adjectives?? I looked up comma rules online and it says that there should be a comma between black and female. i don't know what to think!!</p>
<p>i think “female singer” is taken as one thing. </p>
<p>it just makes more sense to me describing the female singer as black than describing the singer as black and female…</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, you don’t need to use a comma between two adjectives when one of them is a number or a color.</p>
<p>I don’t think the SAT tests comma use, though.</p>
<p>so the general consensus is that there is no comma necessary?</p>
<p>Correct; no comma necessary.</p>
<p>if you use a comma for a list, you have to be able to say and between the adjectives. So black and girl singer doesn’t really make sense. Correct me if i’m wrong.</p>
<p>I would not use a comma. When I say it out loud to myself, it’s pretty clear that there’s no need for a pause. But relax, the tests don’t usually ask such nitpicky semi-subjective stylistic questions. A comma is probably not strictly grammatically incorrect, so I wouldn’t bother beating my head against a wall if I were you.</p>
<p>It is something often difficult to figure out but bascially to determine whether you need a comma in such a situation, you should ask yourself whether you would generally say “and” between the words if asked to describe the particular noun. For example if you were asked to describe the singer, your answer would be the singer was a “black female” and you would not put “and” between the words. On the other hand a “young, inexperienced singer” would have the comma because if asked to describe the singer, you would say the singer was “young and inexperienced.”</p>
<p>You can also try pausing in place of a comma, and if it sounds weird then there shouldn’t be a comma there. Most likely the ACT and SAT won’t directly ask you this kind of question…</p>