Grande oportunidad vs gran oportunidad

Question

Oportunidad is a feminine noun. Why was it marked wrong when I wrote grande?  The correction was to gran.

Answer

Hi Alice,If you wanted to describe 'a big opportunity' then you would use the adjective 'grande':Una oportunidad grande. Grande meaning 'big'. If however you wanted to describe 'a great opportunity' you would use the adjective 'gran':Una gran oportunidad. Gran meaning 'great'.Gran: - Placed before a noun means 'great', 'fantastic'. It's more about describing the qualities of a person or thing.Grande: -Placed after a noun refers to size or age meaning big, large, old or grown-up.Oh and 'gran' can go before both a masculine and feminine noun. I hope this helps a little.

Answer

My Grammar book (by Butt and Benjamin) confirms what Clara says - but in the context that, when it means 'big', 'grande' is restricting or differentiating the noun so it needs to follow it [as explained in the Kwiziq lesson on noun/adjective ordering]. And when it precedes the noun [here, translated as a 'great opportunity'; i.e., one which is very welcome] then it gets truncated to 'gran', even when feminine [but remains 'grandes' in the plural; i.e. 'great opportunities' would be 'grandes oportunidades'].

Answer

Hola Alice
The moment the adjective is placed in front of the noun (masculine or feminine singular nouns) we need the shortened version of it: "gran"
The test questions shows as:
Me han dado una ___ oportunidad en el trabajo. (I have been given a great opportunity at work.)
So, as the noun is placed after the gap the only possible answer is "gran", not "grande".
Un saludo cordial
Inma