Adjectives - Attributive position

Attributive adjectives go before the nouns they qualify.

§  She is a beautiful (adjective) girl (noun). 

§  They have a big (adjective) house (noun) in the city. 

§  This is a vexed (adjective) problem (noun). 

§  She married a rich (adjective) man (noun). 

Attributive adjectives after nouns

1. Attributive adjectives can be put after nouns. This happens in certain fixed phrases.

Examples are: Attorney General, court martial, poet laureate, timeimmemorial, heir apparent etc.

2. Certain adjectives ending in -ible and -able are also put after the nouns they qualify.

§  We tried all means (noun) possible (adjective). (= We tried all means that were possible) 

§  Book all the tickets available. (=Book all the tickets that are available) 

3. Adjectives are always placed after words like something, everything, anything, nothing, somebody, everybody, somewhere etc.

§  Let us go somewhere quiet. 

§  I heard something interesting today. 

§  Nothing logical ever happens there. 

Adjectives used only in attributive position

Some adjectives are used only in attributive position.

Common examples are: elder, eldest, live, little, mere, sheer etc.

§  My elder sister is a doctor. 

§  Can you eat a live fish?

§  They have a nice little house in the city.

§  It was sheer madness. 

§  She is a mere child.

After a verb, other words must be used.

§  She is older than me. (NOT ---elder than me.)

§  The fish is still alive. (NOT -- is still live.)

§  Their house is small. (NOT -- is little)

§  The baby fell asleep. (NOT -- fell sleeping.)