Why can't certain adjectives be placed before a noun?

Why can't certain adjectives be placed before a noun?

For example:

3 rich [ not before noun ] informal very rich : Giles can afford it – he’s loaded.

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7 drunk [ not before noun ] American English informal very drunk : Greg used to come home loaded almost every night.

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There are other adjectives, but none come to mind right now.

Is this just "the way it is"? Is there a reasonable explanation?

Thanks.

Chicken Sandwich said:

Is this just "the way it is"? Yes
Is there a reasonable explanation? No
:roll:.

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5

Chicken Sandwich said:

Why can't certain adjectives be placed before a noun?

For example:

There are other adjectives, but none come to mind right now.

Is this just "the way it is"? Is there a reasonable explanation?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm not surely which adjective you mean - maybe 'loaded'? Or is it 'rich' or 'drunk'?
If 'loaded', then this can be used before a noun when it's used literally: "The loaded truck was seen in West Street." It's only when it's used figuratively that it can't be - and perhaps that's the reason.
"The loaded man was almost falling over." What does this mean?

I don't understand why you think those can't go before the noun.

Your invention will make you a very rich woman.
Her son was killed by a drunk driver.

Raymott said:

I'm not surely which adjective you mean - maybe 'loaded'? Or is it 'rich' or 'drunk'?

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I meant "loaded". According to this rule, you can't say:

Look at that loaded person. (= drunk).

Chicken Sandwich said:

I meant "loaded". According to this rule, you can't say:

Look at that loaded person. (= drunk).

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NOT A TEACHER


"Serving coffee may give a loaded person a false sense of sobriety or

create the 'wide awake drunk.' "


Source: "Responsible Alcohol Use" website sponsored by York University in

Toronto, Canada.

TheParser said:

NOT A TEACHER


"Serving coffee may give a loaded person a false sense of sobriety or

create the 'wide awake drunk.' "


Source: "Responsible Alcohol Use" website sponsored by York University in

Toronto, Canada.

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Nice one. Apparently "loaded" in the context of "drunk" can be placed before a noun. Can anyone elaborate on this? Is this usage of "loaded" incorrect?

Chicken Sandwich said:

Nice one. Apparently "loaded" in the context of "drunk" can be placed before a noun. Can anyone elaborate on this? Is this usage of "loaded" incorrect?

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Now I'm confused. How did you deduce that "loaded" could not be used before a noun in the first place?
In fact, it seems that no one has yet questioned the premise behind your question: "Why can't certain adjectives be placed before a noun?"
Do you have any examples of adjectives that can't be placed before a noun?

Raymott said:

Now I'm confused. How did you deduce that "loaded" could not be used before a noun in the first place?
In fact, it seems that no one has yet questioned the premise behind your question: "Why can't certain adjectives be placed before a noun?"
Do you have any examples of adjectives that can't be placed before a noun?

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In my first post, I presented these examples:

[FONT=&quot]3 [/FONT]rich [FONT=&quot] [ not before noun [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]informal very rich [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Giles can afford it – he’s loaded.

[FONT=&quot]7 drunk [FONT=&quot] [ not before noun [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]American English informal very drunk [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Greg used to come home loaded almost every night.

Obviously, "loaded" can be placed before a noun, but not if the meaning is "drunk" or "rich". At least, that's what this dictionary says.
[/FONT]

Chicken Sandwich said:

In my first post, I presented these examples:

[FONT=&quot]3 [/FONT]rich [FONT=&quot][ not before noun [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]informal very rich [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Giles can afford it – he’s loaded.

[FONT=&quot]7 drunk [FONT=&quot][ not before noun [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]American English informal very drunk [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Greg used to come home loaded almost every night.

Obviously, "loaded" can be placed before a noun, but not if the meaning is "drunk" or "rich". At least, that's what this dictionary says.
[/FONT]

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Ah, I see.
Well, "loaded" can be used before a noun when it means 'drunk' or 'rich', if the context makes the meaning clear.
If the context is not clear, then you can't. So, the question about whether the sentence is correct or not depends on the context.
So, if you're writing a story, you can say, "The woman walked around the corner and saw a loaded truck", but you can't say (without ambiguity), "The woman walked around the corner and saw a loaded man."

PS: You need to quote your source if you paste something - ie. what dictionary is it. This is necessary for copyright reasons, but also so that we teachers can get an idea of which dictionaries give confusing advice.

Thanks. I was quoting from the "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English". Apparently, this dictionary isn't 100% right.
If I apply your explanation to the sentence posted by TheParser:

"Serving coffee may give a loaded person a false sense of sobriety or create the 'wide awake drunk.' "

Here it is clear that loaded refers to being drunk, therefore it is correct to use loaded before a noun.
So the definition should have been:

Loaded:
[FONT=&quot]3 [/FONT]rich [FONT=&quot][ not before noun, unless it is clear from the context what loaded means [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]informal very rich [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Giles can afford it – he’s loaded.

Dictionaries cannot possibly give every conceivable situation in which every word can or cannot be used. They would need dozens of pages for every word - and have to be updated daily.

Chicken Sandwich said:

So the definition should have been:

Loaded:
[FONT=&quot]3 [/FONT]rich [FONT=&quot][ not before noun, unless it is clear from the context what loaded means [FONT=&quot]] [/FONT][/FONT]informal very rich [FONT=&quot]: [/FONT]Giles can afford it – he’s loaded.

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NOT A TEACHER


(1) I congratulate you on being such a conscientious student.

(2) May I most respectfully and gently suggest that you are perhaps being

a little too harsh toward that dictionary.

(3) I am an old man who has spoken and read only English all my life, and

until I read your post, I had never known that "loaded" could be used as an

attributive adjective (placed before the noun) to describe a drunk (drunken?)

person.

(4) Yes, that quotation I found came from a reputable source, and no doubt

there are some people who would use it in that way.

(5) But the bottom line (as we Americans say) is that the vast majority of

people would not use "loaded" as an attributive adjective for "drunk."

(6) I know how you feel: you want 100% correct "rules." But languages are

simply sounds made by human beings, and since human beings are far (very

far!!!) from being perfect, you simply cannot expect perfection from their

languages, either.

TheParser said:

NOT A TEACHER

(2) May I most respectfully and gently suggest that you are perhaps being

a little too harsh toward that dictionary.

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That wasn't my intent.

Here is a short story called "The Loaded Dog" by the famous nineteenth century Australian author, Henry Lawson. (The dog wasn't drunk).

http://www.dropbears.com/w/wood_books/loaded_dog.htm