Pre- vs. post-modification / Costruzioni "a sinistra" e "a destra"

In most compound words and noun phrases, the headword is the last element in Eng. and the first element in It. Therefore, modifiers are found before the headword in Eng. ("premodification") and after the headword in It. ("postmodification").

Look at the following examples:

The examples show a variety of pre/postmodifications. Some of them are dealt with in the pages on the position of adjectives or on the preposition "di" ( and ).

Footnotes

1) in cases like "auto sportiva", whenever the sequence noun + adjective has a new or restricted meaning of its own, the adjective must go after the noun. Another example is "peso specifico" ( specific gravity, density); technical terms are unchangeable - phrases like *"lo specifico peso" or sentences like *"il peso è specifico" are not allowed.

2) in cases like this, postmodification makes the relationship explicit: "the Rome train" may mean "the train leaving for Rome, the train arriving from Rome" or even "a train in Rome" and It. uses a different preposition in each case.