42
votes
Why use an adjective after a noun?
Rather than Noun + Adjective, it can be thought of as Noun that is Adj, which uses relative clause but that is is omitted.
We always have to go to, you know, someplace that is nice.
Is there ...
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15
votes
Accepted
Why use an adjective after a noun?
There are two possible mechanisms that could explain the position of the adjective in the example sentences that you provided: postpositive adjectives and whiz-deletion.
When you apply an adjective ...
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5
votes
She's going to tell the truth as she saw/understood it
Does the phrase "as she sees/understands it" modify "tell"?
No. It modifies "truth".
She is going to tell the truth -- What sort of "truth"? -- the truth as ...
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3
votes
a key that opens any door
They're both ambiguous, but I agree with you about their dominant interpretations.
If one is more ambiguous than the other, though, I'd say it's the other way round: (b) is possible to interpret as (a)...
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2
votes
Jeff at the library
The correct answer is b.
"Jeff at the library" is a whole phrase referring to a person. Since "at the library" is necessary to clarify which "Jeff" you're talking about, ...
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2
votes
Accepted
None modifies noun? --" an entryway jumble of backpacks and umbrellas"
"Entryway" here is doing duty as an adjective rather than a noun; the jumble is the noun, and entryway is describing it (in this case, it is a jumble that is positioned in an entryway). As ...
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2
votes
things to make you anxious
Your example (c) makes perfect sense. Of course you can make people anxious by telling them things.
Suppose I wanted to make a person anxious, for some reason, e.g. because I felt like being cruel to ...
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2
votes
first child born out of wedlock
Your sentences A and A1 mean exactly the same thing because A is an abbreviated form of A1. Sentence B has a different meaning.
Both sentences mean that she had other children out of wedlock after ...
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2
votes
we did not know how many
From googling 'knew not how many', I see you have already asked this question on another forum.
Yes, the idiom implies 'a lot' - too many to count easily. My impression is that the inverted form with '...
- 61.4k
2
votes
Accepted
How to know which words are being modified by a prepositional phrase?
It describes the table.
This is because you don't carve the legs of girls.
This kind of reasoning is called "pragmatics". You understand which noun phrase is modified partly by syntax (the ...
- 231k
2
votes
Accepted
sentence that include 'and' need to analysis
The construction X and Y of Z can be ambiguous and can mean (X and Y) of Z, or X and (Y of Z). This usually can be solved by context.
We add a few words to the OP’s
first example to make it a ...
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1
vote
We call the shots as we see them
"call the shots" is a metaphor borrowed from the film industry. It would literally mean a film director who "calls" (ie shouts) what scene and what camera angle he/she wants. ...
- 231k
1
vote
we did not know how many
Would you say that (a) and (b) imply that that professor had published a great number of articles?
we didn't know how many
we knew not how many
It's implied the number of published articles must be ...
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1
vote
for three thousand dollars
Both of them are correct AND both of them could be parsed to mean you got paid to turn down the job.
But context is king, so both would be understood to mean the job was three thousand dollars a month....
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1
vote
things to make you anxious
"(c) doesn't make sense. You can't make someone anxious just by telling them 'things'."
Sorry, but that is simply not true.
"I've hired an assassin to kill your wife. He should be on ...
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1
vote
What's the difference between "people involved" and "involved people"?
Ah, postpositive adjectives
I will take another word as an example because it is more commonly used: responsible.
If you ask for the "responsible people", you are asking for people who have ...
- 6,178
1
vote
the letter that he told you to deliver
Technically, none of those sentences are grammatically correct.
When using a relative clause with "which" to modify a noun (and "a" and "b" are actually forms of this too, just with the "which" left ...
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1
vote
a great technique to keep in mind
No, the sentence is not ambiguous.
To say that something is particularly useful for certain purposes is NOT to restrict it to those purposes.
To say that a hammer is really useful for knocking in ...
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1
vote
a great technique to keep in mind
You could replace "to keep in mind" with "to use" and it would be a bit clearer. On the other hand, the way it is written, the speaker is not necessarily advocating that you use it. When arguing with ...
- 272
1
vote
ambiguity?: to infinitive phrase as a purpose clause or an infinitival relative clause
I would say:
a.We asked for a man to communicate with the children
b.You need a key in order to open the door.
c.Now you can use a key to log into your Google account
I would say that is ...
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1
vote
a young woman who is pregnant
It is grammatical. It is a very abbreviated form of description, but I think it preserves the meaning. It also parallels the terse description of the husband.
I think he has done it that way because ...
- 548
1
vote
when I was at the hospital
You can use those sentences. They are grammatically correct.
In terms of style, some people don't like to separate the subject of a sentence from the verb by too many words. If there are too many ...
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