Positions of adjectives in noun phrases or sentence constructions have very significant role in specification, complementation of nouns, stylistic expressions and emphasis. Considering the position of adjectives in sentence constructions is very important because they furnish meanings according to the position they are put in. This post presents information about the post-posed adjectives specially when their position is meaning specific, and they are weighty.
1. Common Positions of Adjectives
Mostly adjectives are positioned either before a noun as attributive adjectives or after a linking verb (be, seem, appear, etc.) as predicate adjectives. It means, many adjectives can stay in both these positions. For example:
a. The successful students gave the credit of their success to their teacher.
b. The students became successful because of their teacher’s support.
However, there are some adjectives that take one of these positions. Either they stay before the head nouns as attributive adjectives (e.g., utter disappointment, main problem, etc.) or after their head nouns as predicative adjectives (e.g., … are asleep, … was afraid, etc.). In addition to their attributive and predicative roles, adjectives also stay as postposed nominals. It means, these adjectives are a part of a noun phrase, but they come after the head noun. For example:
a. The time available for this task is coming to an end.
2. Construction of Noun Phrases with Postposed Adjectives
Some adjectives are used with indefinite pronouns, idioms, superlatives, prepositional phrases or clauses. On account of these complements (modifications), the adjective phrases become extra complex and are commonly known as weighty phrases. Owing to their extra weight, they cannot stay before their head noun. Thus, they stay as postposed in their noun phrases and help produce stylistic expressions (Babasoy, 2024). For example:
a. We live in Bahawalpur proper.
b. The president elect will take oath next week.
3. Adjectives with Fixed Post-Position
It is important to note that there are some adjectives that must always follow their noun. The particular point about these adjectives is that they have only one meaning. On account of the singularity of their meaning, they help generate fixed, traditional phrases. For example:
a. The diagram below indicates the steps of the process.
b. The Greek people have been worshipping gods from the time immemorial.
The common noun phrases in which adjectives are bound to follow their head nouns include the members present, no one responsible, the time proper, the heir apparent, something new.
4. Adjectives that Go Directly after their Nouns
Adjectives follow and describe entities when they are in the form of pronouns like somebody, anywhere, everyone, somewhere, anything, etc. For example:
a. I am searching for somebody compatible.
b. We have not seen anything sensitive in this case.
Adjectives can also directly follow objects of some verbs (i.e., complex transitive verbs e.g., consider, find, declare, deem, appoint, etc.) as complements of objects, which either equate to or describe the objects. For example:
a. The selection board considered him capable.
b. We did not find Nasim loyal.
In these sentences the objects (i.e., him and Nasim) of complex transitive verbs (consider and find,) require complements. Without the presence of these complements, the sentences would be ungrammatical.
5. Adjectives whose Meanings are Position-specific
Some adjectives give meanings according the position they are placed in. If they precede the noun, they give one meaning and when they follow the noun or a linking verb, they give another meaning. For example:
a. The present situation is unpredictable.
b. The members present in the board meeting did not support the agenda.
a. His late father was a great support for him.
b. The flight was three hours late.
Similarly, past participle (-ed participle) adjectives furnish varied information on the basis of their position related to their head noun in a noun phrase. Pre-modifying adjectives provide information about the type, qualities, or characteristics of the head noun in a noun phrase. Thus, they make the head noun more specific or detailed. On the other hand, the post-modifying past participle adjectives (mostly reduced or condensed form of relative clauses) provide the head noun with more specific or supplementary information. For example:
a. The collected data were first organized and later analyzed.
b. The data collected from industry were not considered sufficient.
c. This involved text is not easy to read.
d. The steps involved in this process are easy to take.
In example (a) and (c) the pre-posed past participle adjectives, i.e., collected and involved indicate integration, comprehensibility and permanence of the head nouns data and text. In (b) and (d), the post posed past-participle adjectives, i.e., collected and involved indicate that the data and steps are partial and local in nature.
6. Position Specific Roles of Adjectives
There is a difference between the role of the adjectives that stay before a noun and the ones that stay after the object of a complex transitive verb as a complement. The former adjectives become the part of a noun phrase while the later do not. The pre-noun adjectives become the integrated part of the noun phrase which plays single sentence slot role such as subject, object or complement. On the other hand, when an adjective stays after the object of a complex transitive verb, both noun and adjective play separate slot roles such as object and complement. Further, this sequence helps explain that an object can only follow its noun when it is the complement of an object of the complex transitive verb.
The adjective phrases that follow the objects of complex transitive verbs can have some extra words before or after them. The words that are placed before the phrase are mostly adverbs, especially of ‘degree’ such as extremely, very, quite, and a little. For example:
a. We found him very cunning.
b. The manager considers him quite competent.
The words that usually follow an adjective may take various structures, i.e., an infinitive, a prepositional phrase, that… or whether… clauses. These structures have been presented in bold in the following examples.
a. The investigation team found the accused’s statement not easy to understand.
b. The parents appeared content with their son’s performance.
c. We found them hopeful that positive results will come out.
d. The doctor seemed uncertain whether the patient would recover.
For enabling an adjective to stay after its respective noun, some words are required to be placed after it. These additional words have to stay after the noun either alone or along with the respective adjective itself. For example:
a. The relevant argument to put forward was…
b. The argument relevant to put forward was …
If some adverb is to be placed before the adjective, it can be placed immediately before the adjective when it is pre-posed to its respective noun. On the other hand, when the adjective is post-posed to its noun, the placement of adjective and its related words cannot be placed immediately after the noun. In this case, the construction requires which was before it. For example:
a. The argument which was quite relevant to put forward …
b. The decision which was indeed key to manage gaps in the performance…
7. Noun + Post-posed Adjective Phrases
Commonly post-posed adjectives stay as a single word. However, they can also stay as an adjective phrase. For example:
a. They found the village utterly deserted.
b. The restaurant customers found the food low in quality
c. The selector deemed the player ineligible for the coming series
d. I consider academic writing quite entertaining.
Examples given above indicate that the adjective phrases italicized have one central adjective along with one or more allied words. These additional words help make adjective’s meaning more precise. In such cases, a prepositional phrase acts like an adjective phrase. For example:
a. I bought a car of extreme excellence.
b. He painted the fence in glaring red.
The adjectives that are post-posed for certain modifying functions can also be in the form of a phrase or clause.
a. The man walking on the road is a great thinker.
b. The house that I disposed off last year was damaged.
In example (a), walking on the road is an adjective phrase modifying ‘man’ and in (b), that I disposed off is an adjective clause modifying ‘house’.
When common adjectives have modifying words (adverbs) before them, they cannot directly follow their nouns. However, participles (-ing & -ed forms of verb) functioning as adjectives can stay after the nouns immediately. For example:
a. Can we find something totally new in today’s story
b. I want to eat something exceptionally tasty.
c. The children rescued looked calm.
d. I need a cake baked perfectly.
Adjectives are also post-posed when they modify indefinite pronouns (something, someone, anybody) (Al-Nuaimi and Izreji, 2022). For example:
a. Something wicked can happen today.
b. Someone extraordinary can do it.
c. Anything weird can stall our way.
8. Attributive Adjectives as Postpositive Adjectives
In special cases, attributive adjectives can appear in the post-position only (Al-Nuaimi, and Izreji, 2022). For example:
a. We are waiting for something special.
b. She wore apron bright that drew the attention of everybody.
In some cases, adjectives immediately follow their head nouns or pronouns. This is particularly common in the case of indefinite pronouns of specific idiomatic titles, set phrases, or for stylistic emphasis.
a. Is this something reliable?
b. We are seeking a place safe from the sun.
c. The president elect of our union is a man of parts.
In sum, adjectives can stay in three positions in relation to their head nouns. These positions are known as attributive position, predicative position and post-posed position. The adjectives that are post-posed play various roles in terms of sentence construction, stylistic emphasis, meaning specificity, precision, etc. Another significance of these adjectives is that they are employed specially when phrases and clauses are to be made part of the adjectival expressions.
Sources Cited
- Babasoy, Y. (2024). Functions of Adjectives. Ancient Land International Online Scientific Journal. Volume: 6 Issue: 6 / 16-22
2. Al-Nuaimi, H. S. S. and Izreji, A.S. (2022). On English Order of Adjectives. Journal of Language Studies.Vol.5, No. 4, Pages (78-88)
