Adjectives after nouns

Question

First of all, which adjectives can be used after nouns? Is there a list or something?

And if an adjective can be used after a noun, can I place it before the noun? For instance, in the sentence I would like to express my strong disagreement with the information published (it's correct, isn't it?) can I replace the information published with the published information ?

Thanks in advance.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

motor_angelIs there a list or something?

There is no list. The adjectives you seem to be focused on are the past participles of transitive verbs.

When used as post-modifiers they tend to be more 'verby'; as pre-modifiers they are more adjectival, so after the noun they suggest some sort of action while they suggest only something stative before the noun.

the information published is more likely to suggest the idea of someone going through the action of publishing the information. the published information is more likely to suggest the idea of stacks of paper that contain information.

CJ

Vchekh · Answer

Participles are sometimes used after nouns: the information published, the time remaining, a penny saved is a penny earned. Apart from that, I've only come across the "noun - adjective" pattern in some set expressions, e.g. chicken supreme, prince charming. These seem to have come from French, where adjectives normally follow nouns. Oh, and of course you can still find adjectives after nouns in poetic speech, e.g. once I loved a maiden fair; mountains high; soul repentant.

Anonymous · Answer

There are two adjectives, besides those participles, that have to strictly placed after nouns that they modify.

(1) the President elect

(2) the ministry designate

Hope it can help you. Terry

Hrsanei · Answer

Hi.

if you are looking for post modifiers which cannot be used before nouns, I can think of the following adjectives offhand.

Aboard, scared,afraid, abalze, afire, afoot, afloat, aslant,aflame

The above adjectives cannot be used before nouns.

Ex. you cannot say afraid residents, you have to say frightened residents.

you cannot say afire house, you have to say the house was afire.

Your example expresses a different thing. In a phrase the information published, published is more like a verb and that phrase is short form of the information which was published. Because in adjectival clauses, relative pronoun(which)and the to be(was)can be omitted. I personally do not consider such combination as post modifiers.

therefore you have two different sentences

A. The information which was published. (Published is past participle )

B. Published information. (Published is an adjective)

I hope this helps

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

Hi,

In the specific example you're giving, I believe "published" is actually a verb. It denotes an action. To publish. An adjective is a description such as "fuzzy", "pretty", "enormous" and so on. In arabic, the adjective comes after the noun. In english, thoguh, I can't think of any instance where it would. Unless you were to say something like, "the ball IS fuzzy", instead of, " the fuzzy ball." I hope this helps.

Msgrammar · Answer

Most things that might work out like that are passive voice, anyway.  Always try to use active voice (keep the adjectives describing the noun to keep the sentence as tight as possible).  You eliminate unnecessary words tht way, too, as putting the adjective after usually requires added articles and such.  "The red dog" vs. "The dog that is red," or something.

Nathandh · Answer

Relative adjectival clauses come after the noun. Example, The boy who fell got up.

Adjectival prepositional phrases come after the noun. Example, The man with the yellow hat went home.

Present participle adjectives with an object come after the noun. Example, The man eating a cookie went home.

Adjectives after nouns

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