Postpositive Adjectives: When the Adjective Comes After the Noun
A postpositive adjective is an adjective placed straight after the noun or pronoun it describes, instead of before it: attorney general, something special, the best seats available. In English the normal position is before the noun (a special day), so postpositive adjectives are the exception, and they only appear in a handful of patterns.
Knowing those patterns tells you when an adjective must go after the noun, when it may, and when moving it changes the meaning. For the usual positions, see attributive and predicative adjectives; for adjectives in general, start with what is an adjective.
Three positions an adjective can take
| Position | Where | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Attributive | Before the noun | a happy child |
| Predicative | After a linking verb such as be, seem, look | The child is happy. |
| Postpositive | Immediately after the noun, with no verb between | the child asleep on the sofa |
The test: if you can remove a verb between the noun and the adjective, it is predicative. If the adjective sits right against the noun and the phrase is still just a noun phrase, it is postpositive.
The six patterns
1. Fixed titles and set phrases
Many of these came into English through French, where adjectives usually follow the noun, or from legal Latin. They are frozen; you cannot move the adjective.
- attorney general, surgeon general, secretary general
- court martial, notary public, poet laureate, heir apparent
- president elect, ambassador designate
- time immemorial, body politic, proof positive, the devil incarnate
Plurals are where people slip. The traditional rule puts the -s on the noun: attorneys general, courts martial, poets laureate, heirs apparent. Some, such as attorney generals, are now common in everyday writing, but formal and legal writing keeps the traditional form.
2. After something, anything, nobody, everyone…
Adjectives describing an indefinite pronoun always follow it:
- I want to do something different this year.
- Is there anyone available on Friday?
- We found nothing unusual in the report.
- Everyone present voted in favour.
“A different something” or “unusual nothing” is not English. This is the pattern learners meet most often, and the one most worth practising.
3. Adjectives that bring a phrase with them
When an adjective has its own complement (a prepositional phrase or an infinitive), the whole adjective phrase goes after the noun:
- a box full of old letters (not “a full of old letters box”)
- parents proud of their children
- a student eager to learn
- a road wide enough for two lorries
Without the complement, the adjective goes back in front: a full box, proud parents, an eager student.
4. -able and -ible adjectives after superlatives and “only”
- the best hotel available
- the only solution possible (also: the only possible solution)
- every means imaginable
- the worst outcome conceivable
Both positions are usually correct here; after the noun sounds more emphatic.
5. Measurements
Ages, sizes and distances put the adjective after the measurement: five years old, two metres tall, ten feet deep, a mile long. Before a noun, the whole phrase becomes a hyphenated compound with a singular unit: a five-year-old girl, a two-metre-tall fence. (See hyphenating compound adjectives.)
6. A- adjectives and a few others that avoid the front
Adjectives such as asleep, awake, alive, alone and afraid do not go before a noun (“an asleep child” is wrong). After the noun they are fine: the child asleep on the sofa, the greatest writer alive. Two informal words only ever follow the noun: apples galore, opportunities aplenty.
Adjectives that change meaning when they move
A small group means one thing before the noun and another after it. These are worth learning as pairs:
| Before the noun | After the noun |
|---|---|
| concerned parents = worried | the parents concerned = the ones involved |
| the present members = current | the members present = those in the room |
| a responsible person = sensible | the person responsible = the one who did it |
| a proper city = a real one | the city proper = the city itself, without its suburbs |
| the involved explanation = complicated | the people involved = taking part |
| an elect group = chosen, select | the president elect = chosen, not yet in office |
“The person responsible will be fined” and “A responsible person will be fined” say very different things.
Using postpositive adjectives in writing
Outside the fixed patterns, putting an adjective after a noun is a stylistic choice. Poets and hymn writers do it for rhythm or rhyme (“forest primeval”, “the life eternal”), and it gives a formal, old-fashioned or legal flavour. In ordinary prose, use it when it is required, and otherwise keep the adjective in front. “We had a dinner delicious” is not a style choice; it is an error.
Common mistakes
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| I need a new something. | I need something new. |
| a full of water glass | a glass full of water |
| an asleep baby | a sleeping baby / the baby asleep upstairs |
| two attorney generals (in legal writing) | two attorneys general |
| a five-years-old boy | a five-year-old boy / a boy five years old |
Practice
A. Put the adjective in the right place.
- Did you see (interesting) anything at the museum?
- She is the (best) candidate (available).
- They found a bag (full) of coins.
- Ask the (responsible) person to come to the office. (Meaning: the one who did it.)
- The building is thirty metres (high).
B. Postpositive, predicative or attributive?
- The members present agreed.
- The members were present.
- The present members are new.
Answers: 1 anything interesting. 2 the best candidate available. 3 a bag full of coins. 4 the person responsible. 5 thirty metres high. 6 postpositive (= those there). 7 predicative. 8 attributive (= current).
Related: the order of adjectives before a noun, and predicate adjectives.
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
