Adjectives that are found before nouns are said to be in the ATTRIBUTIVE position: A FAIR man. adjectives that come after the nouns they qualify are in PREDICATIVE positions: The man is FAIR.
Most adjectives can be found in both positions without changing meaning. However, few adjectives are position restrictive. MAIN, MAJOR, SHEER, CHIEF are only used in the attributive position: A major fault(wrong to say: The fault is major). ALIVE, ASLEEP, AWAKE are only found in the predicative position: My mum is asleep(wrong to say: my asleep mum).
Few adjectives can also change meaning when they move from the attributive to the predicative position: My old friend/My friend is old. Old in the former refers to time while the latter refers to age.
To be continued…
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