[Grammar] where is the position of adjective?

[hitinvo]

dear teacher,
when i read the book, sometime i see the adj(adjective) after the Noun. but i usually use the adj before the Noun ????
please have me explain it ! thank you

 

[euncu]

when i read the book...

What I'm more curious about is The Book. It should be that one special book to rule them all, a book of everything? And, as always, everbody knows about something that I'm unaware of. Poor me

Maybe hitinvo was reading the book "Paradise Lost" and wondered why the name of the book wasn't "Lost Paradise"

PS:Sorry in advance if I've been too much facetious.

 

[TheParser]

dear teacher,
when i read the book, sometime i see the adj(adjective) after the Noun. but i usually use the adj before the Noun ????
please have me explain it ! thank you

***NOT A TEACHER***

hitinvo, good morning.

(1) You have asked an excellent question.

(2) You don't have to worry too much. In English, adjectives are ALMOST ALWAYS in front of the noun.

(3) There are some special cases that you will learn as you read more English.

(4) You can find more information in a good book or on the World Wide Web.

(5) Here is something very important. Maybe you already know it: Adjectives come after words like: something, everything, anything, nothing, somebody, anywhere, etc.:
(a) I want to buy something nice./When I go to a restaurant, I want everything fresh./ Is there anything wrong? / There's nothing interesting on television./ Let's go somewhere warm.

If you have any particular sentences in mind, please post them here. Many people are eager to help you.

Thank you.

 

[hitinvo]

so thank you!
i have the sentence
the man asleep in the room is my brother. asleep is a adj but it is stay behind the noun??
please have me

 

[Barb_D]

I've looked at a number of links talking about post-positive adjectives, which is what it's called when the adjective comes after the noun.

This may be one of the better ones.
Wapedia - Wiki: Post-positive adjective

 

[hitinvo]

thank you so much.
English is so wonderful!

 

[TheParser]

so thank you!
i have the sentence
the man asleep in the room is my brother. asleep is a adj but it is stay behind the noun??
please have me

***NOT A TEACHER***

(1) hitinvo, there are many words in English that CANNOT be put in front of a noun.

(2) Many of those words start with a- ("asleep" is one of those adjectives).

(3) Some books say that "The man asleep" = "The man who is asleep in the room is my brother."

(4) If you erase the words "who is," you can speak faster.

(5) You can also say, "The sleeping man in the room is my brother."

If you have any questions, many people here will be happy to help you at any time.

Thank you

 

[indonesia]

***NOT A TEACHER***

(1) hitinvo, there are many words in English that CANNOT be put in front of a noun.

(2) Many of those words start with a- ("asleep" is one of those adjectives).

(3) Some books say that "The man asleep" = "The man who is asleep in the room is my brother."

(4) If you erase the words "who is," you can speak faster.

(5) You can also say, "The sleeping man in the room is my brother."

If you have any questions, many people here will be happy to help you at any time.

Thank you

Does that make the sentence a reduced relative clause then?

 

[Jaskin]

Hi,

dear teacher,
when i read the book, sometime i see the adj(adjective) after the Noun. but i usually use the adj before the Noun ????
please have me explain it ! thank you

Thanks for asking that great question.

I'm also interested if there are any pairs noun-adjectives that have a different meaning when we change the order.


Cheers

 

[TheParser]

Does that make the sentence a reduced relative clause then?

(1) Apparently, yes.

(2) Here is another example from the popular THE GRAMMAR BOOK: The man (who was) responsible for the accident.

(3) Professor Quirk's authoritative grammar gives us examples such as: The house (which is) ablaze is next door to mine./ The men (who were) present were his supporters.

 

[TheParser]

Hi,



Thanks for asking that great question.

I'm also interested if there are any pairs noun-adjectives that have a different meaning when we change the order.


Cheers

Do you mean something like this from Professor Quirk's book:

(1) The visible stars = the stars that are usually always visible.

(2) The stars visible = the stars (that are) visible at this particular moment.

Professor Quirk et al. discuss this in the "Syntactic functions of adjectives" section of their A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Thank you.

 

[Jaskin]

Hi,

Professor Quirk et al. discuss this in the "Syntactic functions of adjectives" section of their A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Thank you.

Yes I meant something like that. I unfortunately don't have access to that book.
I research the subject and that what I have so far.

(1)
The obvious one that comes after nouns to indicate the unit of meruremnts :
Deep, long, tall, wide, high, old, thick
(2)
That group comes only after nouns:
designate, elect, galore, incarnate, ablaze
(3)
That's the group of ajectives I'm most interested in :
conserned, involved, present, proper, responsible, opposite, visible


Could anyone help with [STRIKE]enchanting[/STRIKE] extending the last list.

Cheers,

 

[TheParser]

Hi,


Yes I meant something like that. I unfortunately don't have access to that book.
I research the subject and that what I have so far.

(1)
The obvious one that comes after nouns to indicate the unit of meruremnts :
Deep, long, tall, wide, high, old, thick
(2)
That group comes only after nouns:
designate, elect, galore, incarnate, ablaze
(3)
That's the group of ajectives I'm most interested in :
conserned, involved, present, proper, responsible, opposite, visible


Could anyone help with enchanting the last list.

Cheers,

***NOT A TEACHER***

This is what Professor Quirk and his colleagues say:

(1) Postposition is usual for absent/present/concerned/involved when they designate "temporary" as opposed to "permanent" attributes:

The men (who were) present were his supporters.
The people (who were) involved were not found. ("the involved people" = a permanent attribute.)
Ptofessor Quirk says that in American English, the involved party/ the party involved --- the concerned parties/the parties concerned MAY mean the same.

(2) Postposition is obligatory for "proper" when it means "as strictly defined." E.g., the City of London proper.

(3) The person opposite (BUT: the opposite direction).

(4) From Mesdames Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman's The Grammar Book:

(a) He is a responsible man. = trustworthy.
(b) The man responsible. = the man (who was) responsible for the crime.
(c) (My personal example. Hope it's correct!) Report the incident to the responsible authorities. That is, the authorities who have the permanent responsibiity in handling such matters, such as the police.

 

[mmasny]

As for the "incarnate", it is prepositive when it means "pinkish".
edit:
Quick facts: Crimson clover

Common names Crimson, scarlet, Italian, and incarnate clover

 

[ianhood]

What I'm more curious about is The Book. It should be that one special book to rule them all, a book of everything? And, as always, everbody knows about something that I'm unaware of. Poor me

Maybe hitinvo was reading the book "Paradise Lost" and wondered why the name of the book wasn't "Lost Paradise"

PS:Sorry in advance if I've been too much facetious.

Relative pronouns are often omitted in English, e.g. "The book I bought today" means "The book which/that I bought today". When the pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence, it usually cannot be omitted because the meaning changes. "The man who is asleep in my room" cannot omit the pronoun "who" because the sentence will then read "The man is asleep in my room" which does not mean the same.

 

[BobK]

I've looked at a number of links talking about post-positive adjectives, which is what it's called when the adjective comes after the noun.

This may be one of the better ones.
Wapedia - Wiki: Post-positive adjective

As that's a wiki, perhaps I could add another couple - 'letters patent', 'proof positive' and 'man alive'. I'll find out what they mean first though. ;-) I imagine Commander-in-Chief began life as a noun with post-positive adj. phrase, but now - as long as you remember the hyphens - it's just one big noun.

b

 

[hitinvo]

thank you so much everybody!