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Adjectives after nouns and pronouns

Adjectives come immediately after nouns in a few special cases.

Fixed phrases: Secretary General; court martial​

Adjectives come after nouns in some fixed phrases.

  • Secretary General
  • court martial (= military court)
  • Poet Laureate
  • President elect
  • God Almighty!
  • Attorney General

available, possible, etc​

Some adjectives can be used after nouns in a similar way to relative clauses. This is common with adjectives ending in -able/-ible.

  • Send all the tickets available / available tickets. (= … tickets which are available.)
  • It’s the only solution possible / possible solution.

Some adverbs can also be used like this.

  • the woman upstairs
  • the people outside

present, proper​

Before a noun, present refers to time; after a noun it means ‘here/there’, ‘not absent’. Compare:

  • the present members (= those who are members now)
  • the members present (= those who are/were at the meeting)

Before a noun, proper (especially in British English) means ‘real’, ‘genuine’. After a noun it refers to the central or main part of something. Compare:

  • Snowdon’s a proper mountain, not a hill.
  • After two days crossing the foothills, they reached the mountain proper.
note

For the position and meaning of opposite, (see here).

Expressions of measurement: two metres high​

Adjectives usually follow measurement nouns.

  • two metres high
  • ten years older
  • two miles long
  • six feet deep

Exception: worth (e.g. worth 100 euros). (see here)

Adjectives with complements: people skilled in design​

When an adjective has its own complement (e.g. skilled in design), the whole expression normally comes after a noun.

  • We are looking for people skilled in design. (not … skilled in design people.)

A relative clause is often more natural.

  • We are looking for people who are skilled in design.

In some cases an adjective can be put before a noun and its complement after it. This happens with different, similar, the same, next, last, first, second, etc; comparatives and superlatives; and a few other adjectives like difficult and easy.

  • a different life from this one
  • the next house to the Royal Hotel (or the house next to the Royal Hotel)
  • the second train from this platform
  • the best mother in the world
  • a difficult problem to solve

something, everything, etc​

Adjectives come after something, everything, anything, nothing, somebody, anywhere and similar words.

  • Have you read anything interesting lately?
  • Let’s go somewhere quiet.