Lesson 12 - Modifiers
A modifier is a single word or a group of words which can be a phrase or a clause that describes or provides more information about a word in a sentence. The word in the sentence can be a subject, noun, verb, adjective, adverb, object, complement or another modifier. Most commonly, the modifying words are adjectives and adverbs. As adjectives, they modify nouns and pronouns, and as adverbs, they modify adjectives, verbs and other adverbs. A noun too can be used as a modifier of another noun.
- Modifier as an adjective : He has a nasal voice. Or: His voice is nasal .
- Modifier as an adverb : Someone sneezed loudly at the back of the queue.
Although a modifier is an optional element in a clause or sentence, and its removal will not affect the clause or sentence grammatically, it performs an important role in providing a clear and effective expression or a complete and accurate description.
A modifier can be easily misused by misplacing it in a sentence so that it wrongly modifies another word or noun resulting in a misplaced modifier or dangling modifier . To avoid such an eventuality, a modifier must be placed as close as possible to the word that it modifies.
A modifier can come before or after the noun that it modifies.
Examples:
- “There is a fat baby in that pram.”
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“The baby is only plump, not fat.”
The first example shows the adjective fat modifying and coming before the noun baby . The second example uses the linking verb is linking the adjective plump to the subject baby . When a linking verb is used, the modifying adjective will come after the noun that it modifies. As in the first example, plump is a modifier; it modifies the baby in the second example.
Further elaborations are given in the subsections to this lesson :