Commission investigates illegal campaign expenditures
Is there any recommendation about the preferred placement of the adjective, when it refers to a compound noun? Personally, I find “gastos ilegales de campaña” easier on the brain.
I’d only say ‘gastos de campaña ilegales’, because ‘(gastos de campaña) ilegales’ makes more sense than ‘(gastos ilegales) de campaña’. Whether something is an adjective or a adjectival phrase doesn’t matter. For example I’d say ‘gastos electorales en contra de la ley’ and not ‘gastos en contra de la ley electorales’ for the same reason.
I suppose if the adjectival phrase was very long, and depending on agreement, it might not be clear that an adjective that comes later attaches to the noun that is far away, but that doesn’t happen here.