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a. I spoke to a doctor, tall and handsome.

b. I spoke to a young woman, magnificently dressed.

c. I spoke to the doctor, tall and handsome.

d. I spoke to the young woman, magnificently dressed.

Are the above sentences grammatically correct? Are they natural?

I know that a 'who was' after the comma would make the sentences completely natural, but are they incorrect as they are?

Aren't these sentences somewhat poetic?

Here's some more details on what my thoughts are on this:

The adjectival phrases follow the nouns here. If the nouns were the subjects of the sentences we wouldn't have a problem. We can keep the nouns in the object position and transform the phrases into full relative clauses with 'who was'. Then the sentences would be completely natural. But with the nouns in the object position and without 'who was' the sentences are at least somewhat odd. I think they are on the verge of being incorrect, but I am not sure of that. They might be archaic or poetic. I wouldn't use them in speech or even in writing, but maybe they'd work in a poem.

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    Tell us about what you think. Do you think they are grammatical? Natural? Poetic? Why or Why not? What are these types of sentences called? If you can find that out then you can also find usage examples. That will lead you to your answers. :)
    – AIQ
    Oct 30, 2021 at 10:23
  • Thanks. The adjectival phrases follow the nouns here. If the nouns were the subjects of the sentences we wouldn't have a problem. We can keep the nouns in the object position and transform the phrases into full relative clauses with 'who was'. Then the sentences would be completely natural. But with the nouns in the object position and without 'who was' the sentences are at least somewhat odd. I think they are on the verge of being incorrect, but I am not sure of that. They might be archaic or poetic. I wouldn't use them in speech or even in writing, but maybe they'd work in a poem.
    – azz
    Oct 30, 2021 at 10:32
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    I would call them weak, rather than incorrect. "Tall, dark, and handsome" is a cliché. "Magnificently dressed" says little on its own. Maybe you find (a) and (c) somewhat poetic because of their metre. ("High on a hill was a lonely goatherd.") Lines (b) and (d) don't specify who was magnificently dressed.
    – Old Brixtonian
    Oct 30, 2021 at 10:52

2 Answers 2

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I spoke to a tall and handsome doctor.

This sentence is the normal word order.

I spoke to a doctor: tall and handsome.

This is an example of literary inversion or anastrophe: it is grammatically correct but would not be used in normal conversation or writing.

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The issue with all your sentences is one of "misplaced modifiers". Who is "magnificently dressed" ? Is it the lady or "I"?

It seems as if you dressed up in your magnificent clothes and then while wearing these clothes you spoke to a lady.

If you want the adjective to modify "lady" you should place it before the word it modifies.

As for "a" or "the". This is the usual choice. Is the lady determined in the mind of the speaker and listener. If so use "the". If not use "a". The determination might come from the context (you can see three ladies, but only one of which is magnificently dressed) or from a previous mention, or from some shared knowledge.

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