In English, adjectives generally precede nouns, unlike in other languages, such as the Latin ones:
There are exceptions to this rule, but it comes as an early lesson in learning these languages.
Of course, this is not always the case. When we want a little more drama in our writing, we might go Latin, as in the case of the movie title The River Wild, which means the same as the wild river, or the expression musician extraordinaire, which gives a different flavor to but means the same as extraordinary musician.
Other times, the difference in meaning is significant, as in patient one, meaning the first patient ever or the primary patient, and one patient, meaning the only patient. Another example is "I want to speak to the person responsible," meaning the person who is accountable for or in charge of solving the problem, and "I want to speak to the responsible person," meaning the only person who has a sense of accountability or ability to address the matter.
Experimenting with word and phrase order can add a lot of punch to one's style, as seen in these last two versions of a sentence meaning the same thing but with different impact: "I go there but for the grace of God" and "There but for the grace of God go I."
- American problem (problema americano, in Spanish)
- difficult job (lavoro difficile, in Italian)
- architectural project (projet architectural, in French)
- delicious food (comida deliciosa, in Portuguese)
- wasted funds (fonduri irosite, in Romanian)
There are exceptions to this rule, but it comes as an early lesson in learning these languages.
Of course, this is not always the case. When we want a little more drama in our writing, we might go Latin, as in the case of the movie title The River Wild, which means the same as the wild river, or the expression musician extraordinaire, which gives a different flavor to but means the same as extraordinary musician.
Other times, the difference in meaning is significant, as in patient one, meaning the first patient ever or the primary patient, and one patient, meaning the only patient. Another example is "I want to speak to the person responsible," meaning the person who is accountable for or in charge of solving the problem, and "I want to speak to the responsible person," meaning the only person who has a sense of accountability or ability to address the matter.
Experimenting with word and phrase order can add a lot of punch to one's style, as seen in these last two versions of a sentence meaning the same thing but with different impact: "I go there but for the grace of God" and "There but for the grace of God go I."
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