attributive only time adjectives – English Grammar Profiler
Some adjectives that may refer to time and are always attributive include latter, past, previous, eventual and ultimate. For example:
The purpose of our existence is enlightenment and eventual liberation from the perpetual suffering of life and death.
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‘Eventual’ is listed at C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile, meaning ‘happening or existing at the end of a process or period of time”
Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the latter half of the twentieth century.
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The meaning of ‘latter’ as an adjective at B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile is: ‘near or towards the end of something‘
I‘ve cut some stuff over the past few months.
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The police would later note that my apartment’s previous owner was an arms dealer.
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‘past’ and ‘previous’ as adjectives before a noun are B1 in the English Vocabulary Profile.
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 64 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as:
ATTRIBUTIVE ONLY, and TIME ADJECTIVES which include ‘present’, ‘future’, ‘former’ before a noun.
A search in iWeb corpus:
1 PRESENT DAY 42626
1 CENTURY (NNT1 ) 1130
2 FORWARD (RL ) 629 3 FAST (RR ) 446 4 CONTINUES (VVZ ) 437
5 ANCIENT (JJ ) 423
2 PRESENT TIME 21172
1 AT (II ) 14253
2 SUFFERINGS (NN2 ) 139
3 WORTHY (JJ ) 69 4 TILL (II_CS ) 52
5 RIGHTEOUSNESS (NN1 ) 50
3 PRESENT VALUE 15434
4 PRESENT MOMENT
13986
But then they get to the present moment, and they‘re instantly clear again.
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
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5 PRESENT STUDY 7712 6 PRESENT STATE 6753 7 PRESENT CASE 5851
8 PRESENT SITUATION
4489
Tell me, what advice would you offer on the present situation?
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9 PRESENT INVENTION 4054 10 PRESENT FORM 3967 11 PRESENT LIFE 3171 12 PRESENT LOCATION 2866 13 PRESENT SYSTEM 2751 14 PRESENT AGE 2714 15 PRESENT DANGER 2613 16 PRESENT WORLD 2486 17 PRESENT CONDITION 2250 18 PRESENT POSITION 2221 19 PRESENT INFORMATION 2152
20 PRESENT WORK 1980
1 FUTURE GENERATIONS 46391
1 CURRENT (JJ ) 1544
2 ENJOY (VVI ) 1301 3 PRESENT (NN1_JJ ) 1204 4 ENVIRONMENT (NN1 ) 784
5 PRESERVED (VVN ) 601
2 FUTURE GROWTH 17533 3 FUTURE USE 15903 4 FUTURE PLANS 15857 5 FUTURE EVENTS 14484 6 FUTURE REFERENCE 13478 7 FUTURE SUCCESS 12051 8 FUTURE CAREER 11567 9 FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 11264 10 FUTURE RESEARCH 9729 11 FUTURE YEARS 9561 12 FUTURE PROJECTS 9480 13 FUTURE LEADERS 9112 14 FUTURE NEEDS 7739 15 FUTURE BUSINESS 7382 16 FUTURE DATE 7146 17 FUTURE PERFORMANCE 6723 18 FUTURE VERSIONS 6678 19 FUTURE WORK 6649
20 FUTURE VALUE 6148
1 FORMER PRESIDENT 41641
(add name of US president here)
2 FORMER MEMBER 12892
1 BOARD (NN1 ) 646 2 PARLIAMENT (NN1 ) 296 3 U.S. (NP1 ) 189 4 CONGRESS (NN1 ) 151
5 COUNCIL (NN1 ) 122
3 FORMER DIRECTOR 12233 4 FORMER HEAD 10708
5 FORMER STUDENTS 10152
6 FORMER SECRETARY 8869 7 FORMER EMPLOYEE 8664 8 FORMER CEO 8425 9 FORMER EMPLOYEES 8318 10 FORMER WORLD 8209 11 FORMER HOME 7622 12 FORMER CHAIRMAN 7493 13 FORMER STUDENT 7474 14 FORMER MEMBERS 7465 15 FORMER MAYOR 7405 16 FORMER GLORY 7277 17 FORMER PLAYERS 7193 18 FORMER STATE 6948 19 FORMER EMPLOYER 6538
20 FORMER OWNER 5921