order of adjectives

[chrysanthemum]

In my book I have a phrase"my two first weeks of school". But in the order of adjectives first we have determiners, then sequence words and after that quantifiers. Don't we say my first two weeks? What about the one I have in my book?

[apbl]

Changing the 'natural' order of adjectives tends to make a sentence sound strange almost invariably, as in this case: "my two first weeks" sounds strange and I can see no reason for inverting the order.

[TheParser]

In my book I have a phrase"my two first weeks of school". But in the order of adjectives first we have determiners, then sequence words and after that quantifiers. Don't we say my first two weeks? What about the one I have in my book?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) An excellent question.

(2) I agree with the other poster that (probably) most native

speakers would say:

The first two weeks on a new job are confusing.

(3) But -- if one thinks about it -- it seems more logical to say:

The two first weeks ....

"The first two weeks" seems to imply that there is a "second

two weeks," a "third two weeks," etc.

(4) I think (only "think") that in some other languages, one would, in fact,

say "The two first weeks."

(5) A good example is the use of "other."

Let's say I have a total of three friends.

Do I say:

(a) Matha is French, and my other two friends are Russian.

(b) Martha is French, and my two other friends are Russian.

I suspect that many native speakers would choose "a."

But "other two" would logically imply that I have a total of

four friends. (2 + other 2 = 4)


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

[Munch]

In my book I have a phrase"my two first weeks of school". But in the order of adjectives first we have determiners, then sequence words and after that quantifiers. Don't we say my first two weeks? What about the one I have in my book?

It is not the most common order but I can imagine a reason for saying it that way - it emphasises the two first weeks were important - it was at the beginning. It sounds unusual but not unnatural to me. What book did you read it in?

TheParser, what the hell?