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Position of adjectives: general

 

Most adjective can go in two places in a sentence: 

With a noun (attributive position): 

The new secretary doesn't like me. 

She's going out with a rich businessman. 

Please send me all the tickets available. 

After be, seem, look, become and a few other verbs (predicative position): 

That dress is new, isn't it? 

S/he looks rich. 

Can you tell me if Mr. Smith is available? 

Some adjectives can only go in one of these positions (e.g. awake, elder). Some adjectives may come after the noun in attributive position (as in tickets available in the example above). One or two adjectives have different meaning in attributive and predicative positions. When several adjectives are used together, it is always easy to put them in the right order (e.g. a beautiful little old Chinese porcelain vase). There are also problems about the use of and with two or more adjectives. 

 

 

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