postmodifiers

Postmodifiers are modifiers that appear after the noun they modify within a noun phrase. They provide additional information about the referent or help identify it more precisely. This contrasts with premodifiers, which occur before the noun.

Postmodifiers can take several forms. Relative clauses are common, as in the book that you lent me or the man who arrived yesterday. Participial phrases follow the noun as in the students smiling in the courtyard or the girl standing by the door. Prepositional phrases can also function postnominally, as in the house on the hill or the cup under the table. In English, a class of adjectives can occur postpositively in certain fixed expressions or titles, for example attorney general, president elect, time immemorial.

The function of postmodifiers includes restriction and elaboration. Restrictive postmodifiers narrow the reference to a specific item, as in the report written yesterday, while nonrestrictive postmodifiers add extra information and are often set off by commas, as in the car, which was red, belongs to Tom. Postmodification is common in English and is frequent in formal style or fixed phrases. Different languages vary in how and when postnominal modifiers occur; some require postnominal adjectives or clauses more than English does, while others favor pre-nominal placement or other constructions.

In summary, postmodifiers follow the noun head to specify or describe it, employing clauses, participial phrases, prepositional phrases, or postpositive adjectives to convey meaning beyond the head noun.