Learn English – Can you put an adjective after a noun

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"Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown" is the title of an action computer game.

Why is it "Skies Unknown" instead of "Unknown Skies"? Is it grammatically correct?

Best Answer

Placing an adjective after a noun is a stylistic choice, mostly used in poetry (to force a rhyme) and titles (for effect). It is rarely used for general prose in modern English, though it was more common in the past and thus has a “classic literature” feel to it.

Notice that the last word of a phrase sticks a bit more in the listener’s mind, so adjective noun emphasizes the noun, whereas noun adjective emphasizes the adjective. Title length is usually quite limited, so this is a clever way to subtly alter the meaning of a phrase without adding words.

Beware: adjectives which look like verbs cannot be safely used in this way. For instance, “the car green” works because “green” is clearly an adjective, but “the car parked” does not work because “parked” would instead be read as the simple past of “to park”.

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