Post-positive adjective

Post-positive adjective

A post-positive adjective is an adjective that appears after the noun that it modifies. In some languages this is the normal syntax, but in English it is rare, largely confined to archaic or institutional expressions. "Aplenty", "galore", and the informal "extraordinaire" are examples of adjectives that are primarily used postpositively in modern English. "Name suffixes", such as "Junior" and "Senior", also function as postpositive adjectives modifying proper names. See the list below for postpositive adjectives used in the context of common phrases. Recognizing post-positive adjectives in English can be an issue when determining the correct plural for a compound expression.

Examples in English

* Judge Advocate
* God Almighty, God Omnipotent
* heir apparent
* president-elect
* Attorney General, Postmaster General, Surgeon General (Common Law)
* Governor-General (Commonwealth)
* Poet Laureate
* Princess Royal, Astronomer Royal, battle royal
* genitive absolute
* present continuous
* past perfect
* court-martial
* fiddlers three
* food aplenty
* best room available
* best choice possible
* things possible and impossible
* worst choice imaginable
* time immemorial
* times past
* passer-by
* Knight Hospitaller
* Knight Templar
* "Astraea Redux," "Apocalypse Now Redux"
* Whopper Junior

See also Plurals of compound nouns.

External links

* [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adjectiv/postpos.htm Internet Grammar of English]
* [http://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/2006/07/post-positive-adjectives.html Heading East]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/adjective answers.com]
* [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1717170 everything2.com]


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