"possible" at the end of sentences eg "We give ourselves the greatest power possible"

[diendaneng]

"possible" at the end of sentences eg "We give ourselves the greatest power possible"

Hi,

I encountered the following sentence while reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor.
"We give ourselves the greatest power possible"
Could you please explain why "possible" is in the end of this sentence?
And should this sentence be understood as "We give ourselves the greatest possible power"?

Thanks,

 

[Tdol]

Re: "possible" at the end of sentences eg "We give ourselves the greatest power possi

You will find adjectives coming after nouns sometimes. Here, I would say that the meaning is something like the greatest power that is possible​, which is slightly different from getting as much of the possible power that you can.

 

[diendaneng]

Re: "possible" at the end of sentences eg "We give ourselves the greatest power possi

You will find adjectives coming after nouns sometimes.

Many thanks for the hint and detailed explanation!

 

[Tdol]

Re: "possible" at the end of sentences eg "We give ourselves the greatest power possi

When adjectives come after a noun, there is normally a reason why we are breaking with the standard word order, and this is usually a change in emphasis in the meaning.