Linguistic doubt.

[Enrique]

In a well-known play, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore, I well remember the words "brother unkind", it that order. Can this be a poetic license? Or is this reversal of word order (adjective after the noun), at present, usual practice? As another example, a often hear people say "place nice" or "place <some other adjective>", e.g., "We'll go to some place nice" where, for a person just grasping the essentials of English, "nice place" would be the natural thing. I'm more interested in the "place nice" case than in the first example which, after all, belongs to Elizabethan literature, but is the only other one I can remember now.

[Quijote]

Hi Enrique,
You're right to be confused about English grammar - one of the languages with so many "exceptions to the rule". I can't comment on the Elizabethan "brother unkind" (too far away historically for me) but maybe I can help with "some place nice":
My take (instinctive) is that we could say:

a) Let's go to a nice place;
b) Let's go to some place (which is) nice.

In the example (b), the "which is ..." is implied and not spoken.

That's my offering to your doubt. Maybe others here can help if I'm barking up the wrong tree!

[Sorrano]

I agree with the Don. The "brother unkind" is more likely a poetic usage; "unkind" should typically go in front of the noun. In the Don's example b the main problem with the fully stated sentence is that it tends to be "wordy" and in an English assignment would probably get a bad mark.

[Enrique]

Glad to meet you again, Quijote. Your examples and explanation could not be clearer. Thanks both to Sorrano and you. My doubts have now vanished. How lucky I am in having once found the Beethoven Reference Site forum! May it last forever.

[Sorrano]

Glad to meet you again, Quijote. Your examples and explanation could not be clearer. Thanks both to Sorrano and you. My doubts have now vanished. How lucky I am in having once found the Beethoven Reference Site forum! May it last forever.

Your contributions to the forum are highly valued, as well! Thanks for being here!

[Enrique]

You are most welcome. I appreciate your words.

[Quijote]

Do not think for one moment that all this "tuition" is free, Enrique! I will submit my note d'honoraires (my bill, my fees) at the end of the year. I offer of course good discounts for cash. I can never hope to be a better musician than Beethoven, but at least I can be a better businessman!

[Enrique]

I believe you, Quijote (the word fees was in my head for some moments), as I ever do when you say you are coming back (just because the day always comes when you are with your friends again). I expect you are enjoying a good health.

[glindhot]

An adjective that follows a noun is called a postpositive adjective.
'place nice' is not really postpositive, pretty much as stated above by Quijote.

Postpositive adjectives are rare in English but do turn up occasionally in poetry e.g.
pavements grey ("The Lake Isle of Innesfree" by W B Yeats)
resolutions vain ("The Sick Stockrider" by Adam Lindsay Gordon)
girdle furl'd ("Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold)
edges drear ("Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold)

[Enrique]

Ahaa, postpositive, that's interesting, glindhot. We in Spanish, as the Romance that it is, and hence an inflected language, enjoy much more freedom in word order. In the poetry of past times, the author seems to have taken a sentence and shuffled the words and yet, the result makes sense.