Postpositive adjectives

I found this sentence in a trashy newspaper article today: "Like Reen, both Edwards and Blott were married to women who, for reasons unfathomable, decided to stand by their men". Here we have an example of a postpositive adjective, or an adjective, 'unfathomable', coming after the noun.

Learners of English are told that adjectives go before the noun, but there are exceptions to this rule. Grammar books and sites say that it is generally set phrases that have postpositive adjectives eg mission impossible, proof positive, princess royal, time immemorial. But there are also certain adjectives that sit very happily after the noun eg there are no rooms available (you can also say 'no available rooms'), there are a few seats free, the members present voted on the motion. In these sentences 'that are' or 'who were' is unspoken, so what you are in effect saying is 'there are no rooms that are available', 'there are a few seats that are free' or 'the members who were present'.

Postpositive adjectives are common in superlative constructions: the smallest quantity imaginable, the lowest price possible. They are also obligatory after indefinite pronouns: something good, no-one interesting, somewhere exciting.

Comments

[Robert Hughes]

It's a fascinating one isn't it? Well done for spotting it and thank you for pointing it out.

Do you think 'reasons unfathomable' has arisen in Rachel Porter's mind as a residual memory of the cliché, '... for reasons unfathomable to [someone]'?

Or is it an attempt at forensic resonance, with 'malice aforethought' brought unbidden to the Mail reader's minds and the impression left there that these women's fidelity is worse than merely poncey?

Or could it even be that she's trying to suggest, with her French word order (which does still just about work in English all these years after the Conquest) that these women are stupidly romantic in a European kind of a way and if we let them get away with this they'll be pushing garlic on us next, demanding straight bananas and abolishing the pound.

Something interesting is certainly going on here.

[Virtual Linguist]

Thank you, Robert. You attribute to the Daily Mail a depth and a subtlety, which, I fear, have never occurred to anyone on the paper!

I think, as you say, the author was thinking of another cliché. The two words 'for reasons ...' often come together with either a phrase following (eg 'for reasons best known to herself' or 'for reasons yet to be explained') or an adjective ('for reasons unknown' or 'for reasons undisclosed').

[Robert Hughes]

Thanks, yes, that makes sense. And, if we're really going for the depths, there's 'for reasons unbeknownst'.

[David Bannister]

I'm interested in a particular post-positive: aghast.

Yes, it's usually post-positive. But what about the following:

he told his stories of cannibalism to a group of aghast believers at the church dinner.

Permissible? I'd like to think so...

[Virtual Linguist]

Yes, you're absolutely right, David. The Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) says aghast is always used predicatively, and Macmillan online dictionary says aghast never goes before the noun, but the British National Corpus has a few examples where aghast does indeed come before the noun, eg: ... according to one aghast Munchener ..., ...an aghast look from Heather ..., ... Dustin's most aghast look in the entire film ..., and Already I've heard aghast whispers about the details ...

[lead generation]

Postpositve adjectives certainly make me confused most of the time and I would love to explore more about this these days. Thanks for the input anyways.