Question

Insert a suitable adjective in the given sentence:
The president gave her official speech today.

• A. The president gave her official elect speech today.
• B. The elect president gave her official speech today.
• C. The president elect gave her official speech today.
• D. None of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is C The president elect gave her official speech today.

An attributive adjective is placed right before the noun/noun phrase it modifies. Consider: A silver bracelet; 'silver' is an attributive adjective that is placed before the noun 'bracelet' it modifies.
Predicative adjectives are placed after the noun, but not immediately after it; it is joined by a linking verb that is placed after that noun, for example, 'I am tall', where 'tall' is the adjective that is used predicatively and is placed after the linking verb, 'am'.
Sometimes, an adjective is placed directly after the noun it modifies.
(For example, an adjective of size that follows the noun: six feet tall; 'tall' is an adjective of size, 'six' is an adjective of number and 'feet' is the noun. The former is predicative and the latter is attributive. )
This small group of adjectives, called 'post nominal adjectives', can occur only after the noun, like 'president elect', 'devil incarnate'; 'elect' and 'incarnate' are adjectives.
Option C contains the post nominal adjective, "president elect", hence it is correct.
Option A is incorrect because "elect" does not follow "official", 'official elect' makes no sense here; moreover, the adjective modifies 'president'.
Option B is incorrect because "elect" is placed before the noun here; since it is an exception, the adjective should be placed after the noun "president". (If it is placed before the noun, it must be written as: 'the elected president.')
Option D is incorrect because the answer lies in C.