A practical english grammar - Vyssaja skola 1978
Position of noun modifiers
Sound symbols
The regular position of descriptive and categorizing adjectives is just before the noun:
brown sugar
some beautiful flowers
an interesting story
a very intelligent boy
Exceptions to this rule are the following:
1) Adjectives with the indefinite words everything, something, anything, nothing, anywhere, somewhere (and the informal anyplace, someplace), which follow.
everything new, something interesting, anything possible, nothing wrong, anywhere interesting, somewhere exciting There’s nothing strange about that.
I’ve got something interesting to tell you.
2) Nouns modified by a superlative or by first, last, and only may be followed by adjectives.
the best room available
the only course possible
the most beautiful eyes imaginable
The adjective (if it is short) may also precede the noun: the best available room, the only possible course.
3) Many verbs in Pattern 9( verb + noun + infinitive) are followed by noun + adjective if the infinitive (not expressed) would be to be.
He likes his coffee sweet. (He likes his coffee to be sweet.)
I prefer my steak rare. (I prefer my steak to be rare.)
4) All types of noun modifiers, including descriptive adjectives, regularly follow their head noun if they are part of a larger construction.
a wide street a street thirty yards wide
a tall monument a monument one hundred feet high
Modifiers other than adjectives.
1) All phrases, including extended comparisions and participles, as well as all adjective clauses, follow their nouns:
a man in good health (compare: a healthy man)
a man without money (compare: a poor man)
people worth knowing places of interest
a man as strong as an ox
a man standing on the corner
a coat patched all over (compare: a patched coat)
a car moving at great speed (compare: a moving car)
2) Words beginning a-, such as alive, alone, afire, aboard, ahead, etc. These words are sometimes called adjectives, since they regularly modify nouns after linking verbs.
He is alive.
We are alone.
The house is afire.
Actually, they are better analyzed as adverbs, since they function more like here or there than like beautiful or tall. If they are used next to a noun, they always follow it.
a man alone
a house afire
the road ahead