Past participle after noun: "proposed cost" vs. "cost proposed" [duplicate]
I have the following two examples:
- Our proposed cost is expensive.
- Our cost proposed is expensive.
Is there any difference between them? Or is the second sentence wrong?
In English, the adjective (or a participle acting as a modifier) is usually placed before the noun it modifies. Thus, it would be more natural to say:
Our proposed cost is high.
Of course, there are exceptions to this pattern. See postpositive adjectives for more information.
As a rule of thumb:
- put the adjective before the noun in most 'simple' cases
- put adjectives after the noun when they are themselves part of a more complex phrase or clause, including if that means an implied relative clause.
So for example:
He is a tall man.
A man [taller than anyone I know].
A white face.
A face [white as the driven snow].
You can then get cases where an adjective actually represents an implied relative clause, e.g.:
The cost [that is proposed] is too high.
The cost [proposed] is too high.
In cases such as this last example, you superficially get an 'adjective' after a noun. But in reality, you can see that it is ostensibly verbal because e.g. it can be made progressive and/or have an agent introduced:
The cost [being proposed (by them)] is too high.
However, you could also use 'proposed' as a simple adjective before the noun. Notice in that case that it cannot be made progressive or have an agent introduced in English:
The proposed cost is too high.
*The being proposed cost is too high.
*The proposed by them cost is too high.