Lesson 12 - Modifiers
Lesson 12 - Modifiers
MODIFIERS1. Adjectives and Adverbs as Modifiers2. Comparatives
and Superlatives as Modifiers3. Multiple-word Modifiers4. Nouns as
Modifiers5. Misplaced and Dangling ModifiersModifiers are single
words or groups of words that describe or provide more detail about
another word, be it subjects, verbs, objects, complements or other
modifiers. Modifying words are mostly adjectives and adverbs.
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs modify
adjectives, verbs and other adverbs. A noun too can be used as a
modifier of another noun.
1. Adjectives and Adverbs as Modifiers
Modifiers are usually placed next to the word they modify.
Placed too far from the word it describes, the modifier can end up
as misplaced modifier, which is explained later. Adjectives as
modifiers come more often before the noun than after it. Adverbs as
modifiers occur immediately before or after the verb, and before an
adjective or another adverb.Adjective modifying noun It was a dark
and stormy night.(Darkis an adjective, so isstormy; they both
modify the nounnight.) There was a red kite in the cloudless
sky.(Redandcloudlessare adjectives, and they modify the
nounskiteandsky.)
Adjective modifying pronoun He was happy with the way things
went.(Happyas an adjective modifying pronounhe.) They were tired
after a hard day at the worksite.(Adjectivetiredmodifies
pronounthey.)Adverb modifying verb He often sees ghosts in his
dreams.(Adverboftenmodifies verbsees.) He did not feel hungry and
ate sparingly.(Adverbsparinglymodifies verbate.)Adverb modifying
adjective The water wasnt hot enough to make a drink.(The
wordenoughis an adverb and it modifies the adjectivehot) She felt
her pulse seemed abnormally fast.(Adverbabnormallymodifies
adjectivefast.)Adverb modifying adverb He now gets home more
quickly with his new car.(Moreis an adverb and it modifies another
adverbquickly.) After her illness, she gets tired exceptionally
easily.(Adverbexceptionallymodifies adverbeasily.)Verb
Adverb modifying verb
Heworkson his own.
Heworks efficientlyon his own.
Theydigto get at the roots.
Theydig deepto get at the roots.
Weatelots of food.
Weeat uplots of food.
Adjective
Adverb modifying adjective
It was 4 a.m. and I was stillawake.
It was 4 a.m. and I was stillwide awake.
We have beenpatientwith him.
We have beenquite patientwith him.
It wasdarkinside the cave.
It wascompletely darkinside the cave.
Adverb
Adverb modifying adverb
He finished his homeworkquickly.
He finished his homeworkvery quickly.
She ranfastin the race.
She ranamazingly fastin the race.
The dog cameimmediatelywhen he called.
The dog camealmost immediatelywhen he called.
To be able to distinguish between an adjective and an adverb
does help as the following show.Real is an adjective; really is an
adverb. Incorrect: The government is aware of thereally
problemsthat these people face.(It is incorrect because an adverb
does not modify a noun. The wordreallyis an adverb.) Correct: The
government is aware of thereal problemsthat these people face.(The
wordrealis an adjective and it correctly modifies a
nounproblems.)
Incorrect: We dont know whatrealhappened.(An adjectiverealdoes
not modify a verbhappened.) Correct: We dont know
whatreallyhappened.(An adverbreallymodifies a verbhappened.)Certain
is an adjective; certainly is an adverb. Incorrect: Not smoking
hascertain madea real difference.(Certainis an adjective and an
adjective does not modify a verbmade.) Correct: Not smoking
hascertainly madea real difference.(Certainlyis an adverb and it
modifies the verbmade.)
Incorrect: Are youquite certainlyabout what happened?Correct:
Are youquite certainabout what happened?
2. Comparatives and Superlatives as Modifiers
Comparatives and superlatives can act as modifiers as they are
either adjectives or adverbs. The comparative form is restricted to
comparing two things while the superlative form compares more than
two things. Abusoldercamel died last week.This sentence says that
Abu had two camels, one of which died last week.Oldermodifies
thecamelthat died. Abu has theoldestcamel in the desert.Here the
superlativeoldestis usedas there are more than two camels in the
desert.Oldestmodifiescamelin the sentence.The wordverycan be an
adjective or an adverb. We use it here as an adverb to modify an
adjective or an adverb, but we cannot use it to modify comparatives
and superlatives. Correct: Abus camel isveryold.Verymodifies
adjectiveold. Correct: Abu rides his camelveryslowly.Verymodifies
adverbslowly. Incorrect: Abus camel isveryolderthan his uncles
camel.Verycannot modify comparative adjectiveolder. Incorrect: Abu
rides his camelverymoreslowly.Verycannot modify comparative
adverbmore.
3. Multiple-word modifiers
Modifiers can be more than one describing the same noun to make
it more precise or interesting. They can be a phrase, or
multiple-word, or even just one word modifying a whole sentence.
The modifiers must be easily identifiable with the words they
modify. The meal in that restaurant was really delicious.The
phrasein the restaurantmodifies the nounmeal. It tells us where the
meal is/was available, andreally deliciousalso modifies meal. It
tells us about the taste of the meal. The adverbreallymodifies the
adjectivedelicious. It tells us how delicious the meal was. They
were highly delighted at the courts
decision.Theadverbhighlymodifies how they felt, that isdelighted.
The adverbial phraseat the courts decisionmodifies the
adjectivedelighted. It tells us what made them delighted. Suddenly,
the ground shook and everyone rushed outdoors.Suddenlymodifies the
whole sentence.Outdoorsis an adverb and it modifies the verbrushed.
The hungry-looking vultures were perched high on the steep cliff
overlooking the slightly choppy sea.Adjectivehungry-lookingmodifies
nounvultures; adverbhighmodifies verbperched;
adjectivesteepmodifies nouncliff;slightly choppymodifies nounsea;
and adverbslightlymodifies adjectivechoppy. Covered by a thick
layer of fine dust, the top shelf had not been wiped for
years.Adjectivethickmodifies noun phraselayer of fine dust;
adjectivefinemodifies noundust; adjectivetopmodifiesshelf;
andcovered by a thick layer of fine dustmodifiestop shelf. It was
the ugly toothless old wicked witch, who cast a magical spell on
the beautiful princess.A whole string of adjectives ugly toothless
old wicked modifies nounwitch; adjectivemagicalmodifies nounspell;
adjectivebeautifulmodifies nounprincess; andwho cast a magical
spell on the beautiful princessmodifieswitch.
4. Nouns as Modifiers
A noun can modify another noun by coming immediately before the
noun that follows it. As a modifier, the first noun tells us a bit
more about the following noun. When a noun acts as a modifier, it
is in its singular form. They do not have vegetable soup, but they
do have chicken soup and tomato soup.In the sentence, the
nounsvegetable,chickenandtomatoare modifiers. They modifysoup.
Without the modifiers, we would not know what soup they have or do
not have. All we would know is they have soup.We need to use a
modifying word such as an adjective or a noun, attributively
(before a noun) to add to the meaning of the noun being modified.
For example, we know what a ship is, but do we know what type of
ship it is or what it is used for? By using a word, especially a
noun acting as an adjective, before the nounshipwe get to know what
ship it is a battleship, cargo ship, container ship, cruise ship,
merchant ship, sailing ship, spaceship, or supply ship, or even an
enemy ship or a pirate ship. Other examples:
Business/girls/language/village school She is a teacher in
alanguage school. Corner/gift/pet/shoe shop Thegift shopoffers a
small selection ofleather goods.
Family/farm/pet/police/sheep/sniffer/toy dog Thepolice dogwas
sniffing round the detainee's heels.
Council/country/dream/farm/mansion/tree/summer house They rented
acouncil housewhen they got married.More examples: We are
renovating the oldfarm buildingsafter they were gutted by fire.
They spent the weekends doing thevegetable garden. She kept
hermoney boxunder her bed. Acar bombwent off, injuring a dozen
people. He lay in thehospital bedreading alibrary book.When a noun
used as a modifier is combined with a number expression, the noun
is singular and a hyphen is used, as follow: They built their
ownhalf-timbered houseoverlooking the river. He does aone-man
showin a open-air theatre. / Hisone-man businessis expanding fast.
The pilot overshot the runway and crashed histwo-seater aircraft.
Thethree-dayhorse-riding eventwill take place next week. They lived
in afour-bedroom housein the suburbs. She plays in afive-girl rock
band. He will have to serve asix-year sentencefor burglaries. He
got aseven-month contractto work on an offshore oilrig. The
historiceight-room mansionstands in 60 acres of parkland.
The100-year-old mansionstands in 60 acres of parkland.
5. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Misplaced ModifierAmisplaced modifieris a word or phrase that is
placed in a wrong place in a sentence. Usually, it is placed too
far away from the word that it is meant to modify; this results in
the wrong word being modified. When this happens, the sentence
causes confusion or does not appear to make sense. To correct it
requires moving the modifier to the right place, which is next or
as close as possible to the word it is to modify.
Wenearlylived in that house for five years. (Misplaced
modifier)
We lived in that house fornearlyfive years.
(Corrected:nearlymodifiesfive)
He bought a squirrel from a friend with a bushy tail.
(The phrasewith a bushy tailis wrongly placed to modifyfriend.
It says that the friend has a bushy tail.)
Correct: He bought a squirrel with a bushy tail from a friend.
(with a bushy tailnow correctly modifiessquirrel.)
Five occupants of the burning building were reported burnt to
death by the police.
Correct: The police reported that five occupants of the burning
building were burnt to death.
Gathering on the beach, the UFO was watched by a large number of
people.
Correct: Gathering on the beach, a large number of people
watched the UFO.
(Or: A large number of people gathered on the beach to watch the
UFO.
Kept in her safe for many years, she decided to wear her gold
necklace.
Correct: She decided to wear her gold necklace, which had been
kept in her safe for many years.
Dangling ModifierWhen we have a modifier in the form of a word,
phrase, or clause, we must make sure there is something for it to
modify. If the something is not present in the sentence, the
modifier will be wrongly modifying something else and it is called
adangling modifier. A sentence having a dangling modifier is
confusing as it doesn't make sense. To make correction, put in the
word that has been left out of the sentence for the modifier to
modify.
Looking at the sea, a boat approaching shore was noticed.
Correct: Looking at the sea, I noticed a boat approaching
shore.
Having seen the movie once, there is no reason to see it
again.
Correct: Having seen the movie once, we have no reason to see it
again.
While lying under a tree, a bee stung his left ear.
Correct: While John was lying under a tree, a bee stung his left
ear.
