petals immaculate

This one was mysterious -- most of the google links were either to this forum or to the same dictionary definition you found. I think it's a pretty odd choice of example for the dictionary to give, because normally one would put the adjective before the noun. Apparently, though, "petals inmmaculate" is a line in a poem.

Or a formal description of an organism; adjectives and adjectival phrases often follow the nouns they qualify, in such texts, e.g.

"Close rosette of lanceolate, dark green leaves. 30-40cm long with violet base and spiny margins, silvery scaly beneath; inflorescence 20cm high, protruding above foliage, nearly globular, with bracts and sepals red, petals red-purple. "

MrP

Hello,

1. Could that be French borrowing?
2. Maybe as you said earlier poetry was involved.

I, however, have seen many English phrases with a noun before an adjective:
- attorney general
- all things beautiful
- all creatures large and small

They sound better this way than the other way around; and I don't know why!

Best Regards,
Hoa Thai

Hello everybody,

My "I don't know why" drove me to search for the adjective-after-noun reason in English. I finally found a key called 'post-positive adjectives' (or post-nominal adjectives). So far, from many Internet sites, most of the noun + immediate adjective pairs are borrowed from French (many are related to Normanism, so they claim). Besides at

>"petals inmmaculate" is a line in a poem

This order is indeed literary, rare but correct.

Hoa ThaiHello everybody,

My "I don't know why" drove me to search for the adjective-after-noun reason in English. I finally found a key called 'post-positive adjectives' (or post-nominal adjectives). So far, from many Internet sites, most of the noun + immediate adjective pairs are borrowed from French (many are related to Normanism,

I thank all of you for helping me. [Suggestions are still welcome]

Best wishes, Jackson

Interesting. Could someone direct me to the poem? I can only find this:

From furry beast that maims cumulocirrus air
to spiralled petals, immaculate,

http://etherealism.com/BEW/divinepresence.htm

Hello again,

I laid the question on my friend, an English professor, about petals immaculate. She told me that she’d heard / seen of its use in botanical gardens / art galleries, when a speaker / an artist wants to stress the beauty of unspotted, pure color petals or sepals. She also added some people do intentionally like to catch attention of their audiences by reversing th

Hoa Thai
Hello again,

I laid the question on my friend, an English professor, about petals immaculate. She told me that she’d heard / seen of its use in botanical gardens / art galleries, when a speaker / an artist wants to stress the beauty of unspotted, pure color petals or sepals. She also added some people do intentionally like to catch attention o