There is definitely an order of adjectives in English, and as GG says, native speakers spick it up very early so that the correct order sounds right.
Quantity Quality Size Shape Colour Origin or material Purpose
So... Two lovely big round pink English schoolgirl bottoms or One fine long thin brown Malacca school cane.
With regard to the brothers and sisters I think it doesn't really matter, and (apart from the obvious necessity to maintain male primacy as mentioned above) one chooses on poetic grounds.
When one is singular and the other plural it always looks a bit odd, but I'd put the singular first:
"I was spanked along with my sister and brothers" sounds, to this ear at least, better than "I was spanked along with my brothers and sister", though "I spanked my sister" sounds better all round. |